New Avians in Town
by Jane.Casper
Summary: Story about two bird-kids like the Flock, who meet Max, Fang, Iggy, and the rest after running from the Facility, another Itex lab like the school. R&R please. Disclaimer: I don't own any characters created by James Patterson, only events, Saph & Blaze.
1. Chapter 1

I ran as fast as I could out the lab door into the field. Erasers chased us and appeared around the corner. Just a little farther, and Blaze and I could get off the ground. Countless endurance tests and training had led up to this. Our final escape from our home and prison. I just couldn't stay here any longer or I'd kill myself. I couldn't continue to watch Blaze be tortured either. I could take it myself, but the more he resisted, the more they tortured… and the more I wanted to blow up the whole damn building with every godforsaken lab lackey and bio-genetically engineered wolf man.

"Saph! Dog-boy two o'clock!" In answer to Blaze's warning, I flicked my wrist sending high velocity ice darts from my fingertips. The two erasers headed our way fell to the ground impaled and bleeding. They wouldn't live for long.

Red emergency alarm light went off alerting the entire facility to our escape. If we could just make that hill and fly into the tree line… we might be able to make it. "Blaze, now!" He nodded. Blaze used the same movement I had; only instead of ice he sent flames at the tinder around the barrels of kerosene. The wood around the barrels caught in a flash… literally. An executive came running out, yelling at the Erasers.

"You stupid mutts! Put out the flames around those barrels! Do you want this whole place to go up in flames!?" I shot a sly glance at Blaze. With that distraction we made it to the edge of the steep hill, jumping off, catching a good wind and snapping our wings open. We couldn't wait around and enjoy the exhilaration of flying, though. I never got tired of stretching my impressive 14.5' wide wingspan. Blaze's was about a foot and a half wider.

Circling around each other as we climbed higher to gain momentum and speed, we kept a close eye on the erasers and white coats. I wouldn't put it past 'em to just shoot us down. I mean, who cares about 16 year old bird kids, anyway? It's not like they can't just make more of us genetically altered Avian-Americans anyway. Yeah. You heard me. Wings. On humans. We're part bird. Get over it. Easier said than done, right? But for me and Blaze, and God knows who else, it was a fact of life. It was a freaking bad ass fact, except for all the experimentation and starvation and being treated like lab rats instead of intelligent beings. But back to our escape. I had to stay focused, or I'd get myself or Blaze killed. Which would defeat the whole purpose of this complicated fiasco.

We turned and dive bombed into the forest around the facility. I'd snatched some clothes and a bag before we'd left. Blaze had stolen as many documents from the computers as we could easily carry. We needed to know as much about this ghastly place as possible. Hell, Blaze and I are more human, metaphorically speaking, than those "scientists" are. Pfft. Mutating children, then torturing them… how more inhuman could you get? And then I wonder, "Where the hell are my parents? Was I just some random donated bits of my parents that were taken from some fertility clinic somewhere? Or did they purposely give me up for genetic alteration and experimentation?" I think every poor kid in that lab has thought that if in the right mind of a human before some untimely failures and deaths. Yeah. My so called biological parents are just as guilty.

Twisting through the trees – that forest outside the Facility because of its remote location in the Catskills was a really bad idea on their part – Blaze and I quickly made our way as far and fast as we could. All those tests on agility really helped as much as I hate to admit it. At first the sound of the wolf-men was close. Too close. I could hear them right on our heels, but slowly, slowly the sound of their pursuit retreated. Even though we couldn't hear them, we didn't stop. We'd never stop until we were exhausted and at least a hundred miles away.

It didn't take long to reach that either or it didn't seem like it, anyway. We eventually flew up higher into the sky to cover more distance and to not get an appendage broken by a tree branch. It was getting dark and cold so we found a hidden cave in the tail end of the mountains someplace closer to New York City and Jersey. We made a small fire and ate some berries, roots, and leaves that we'd learned were okay to eat. Honestly? The more dirt and natural stuff I ate the better. All we ever got to eat was Mutant Chow at the Facility. It was just a bunch of nasty pellets and water with nothing but chemicals. If there were any actual natural substances in our old food, I would have been shocked.

The night faded to black and the only light came from the warm embers in front of Blaze and me. We both sat silently watching the glowing embers. Blaze wordlessly reached over to our little pile of wood and threw some more sticks on the fire. His hair glowed in the light, and his red-tinted hazel eyes seemed to glitter and dance just like the small flames before us. We were a major contrast. He was all red, heat, anger, and passion. I was blue, cold, controlled rage, and sense. Some of his best qualities lie in his overpowering emotions. It was his strength and ultimate weakness just as it was for me. While his emotions almost always controlled him, I ignored mine and thought sensibly. He never had trouble showing how he felt. For me it was damn near impossible unless it was logically necessary. But for some things… I just couldn't keep under control.

"Blaze…?" He looked at me. Those red tinted hazel eyes underneath shaggy, crimson streaked black hair, so familiar, so important to me, they haunted my dreams. "How're the wings?" He stood, crouching in the 6 foot high cave, because he was about three and a half inches taller. Blaze spread his wings, and I swear I almost stop breathing every time I see them. His wings were various shades of red going from almost white to a near-black at the tops. Gently, carefully, I searched both wings for any bits of tree, leaves, and rocks, anything that could cause a problem. When I finished, I worked on trying to loosen up any knots around where his wings met his back. He turned, stopping me by grabbing my hands.

"Sapphire, stop. I'm fine. I appreciate the gesture, but it really isn't necessary." I nodded. Usually, with him, I got too fussy. I was just so used to when we were small, and he wasn't as big and sturdy. He used to be so fragile and breakable; I was always taking care of him. Blaze drew my chin up, forcing me to look him in the eyes. "Now turn, missy." He had an easy, infectious smile. I used to see it more, but it had become almost nonexistent. Now that we were sprung, it was back and a bit of weight lifted from my shoulders.

I obeyed and spread my wings. Like a severe case of Yin and Yang, my wings were identical to his except for one thing: mine were blue. Of course, the normal bird markings were in the feathers of both of our wings, but they just happened to be more colorful. It was part of our certain experiment. They wanted to make bird kids that could control some of the elements. I don't know how or why, but they did it. The other two that were supposedly supposed to control air and earth? Yeah. They died when we were all three. So all that was left was fire (Blaze) and water (me). Now, I'm sure you're wondering, "But you just threw ice daggers at those erasers! And you're saying you're water?" I can control liquid in general. And ice. Don't forget, kiddies! Ice is a form of water! I can also create mist and "call" water to me. Blaze can also use lightning and other forms of electricity… I've also seen him create lava by super heating rocks then throwing the molten rock at people… kind of cool and creepy at the same time.

He went over my wings picking out bits and pieces of things, smoothing feathers, and using his elemental abilities to warm his hands and work the stress-induced knots out of my back. I thought to myself, _and so the tables have turned. Who is taking care of whom_? I really needed to stop killing myself over every, tiny, miniscule detail of our circumstances. Just make things simple, I kept telling myself. You're free, you're with Blaze, and you're both fine, and if any problems come up, you'll be able to deal when the problem arises.

I sighed, leaning into Blaze's hands. I really _loved _having him around. Not only is the boy gorgeous with that strong chin, reddish eyes, boyish smile, and broad, muscular body, but he was my best friend. I don't think I've met a sweeter being. Ever. Although, look where I was raised, and you could say it was just two prisoners attaching to each other. But, through all our troubles, he didn't become cold, and reserved like me. Blaze because more protective, affectionate, and rebellious. Just like a wild fire as it grows. But wait! There's more! But with those awesome fire powers, he can give one kickin' massage.

I looked down at my feet. Blaze tapped the top of my wings, signaling to put them back into place. Mutely, I brought my wings back against my back, fitting into the natural indentation. I sat down carefully and leaned against Blaze. I thought over the events of the past month all the way back to when I found out what that last operation had been for, in a conversation overheard from the white coats.

"_Why do I have to put this in for PT again?" _The first lab lackey said.

"_Because, the Facility director wants to make sure that one of her fertilized eggs took. Otherwise she's going back into the OR for another go." _The second replied. I had been recovering from my latest bout with the OR. Usually they took any of us there because it was easier to use anesthesia than to have us be awake for simple procedures and cause problems. It didn't take long for me to realize what they were talking about. My eyes had widened as I looked down at my abdomen and I realized something: I hadn't gotten my period this month.

"_Oh. Right, gotcha." _The first replied. Then he'd come over to my cell. I'd thought their putting me in a more spacious area was strange. Now I knew why. When I realized that they were trying to get me to produce another part Avian-elemental controlling child for their inhumane experiments I'd immediately told Blaze everything, and we'd started planning. Because the body is mostly made up of water, I can also do some creepy mind control stuff. I don't know the mechanics but it has something to do with my being able to "call" the water around me. That includes the water that we have in our bodies. So if I focus, I can make anyone do what I want. For some reason I can also read thoughts. I couldn't read emotions, but thoughts were a sure deal.

When he'd come back to record the results of the test, I'd used my little trick to get what he was writing down. Unfortunately, their hopes came true, and I was, indeed, pregnant with Blaze's child. Could they screw up my life anymore?

Then we planned, and acted on our plan, and here we are. Thank god for the _one _white coat who did actually have a soul. His name was Jeb, something. Baker? Bachelor? Batchelder? That was it! Jeb Batchelder! A few years ago, he'd started working at the Facility. Secretly, he'd taught Blaze and me what we needed to know to one day escape. He'd taught us how to fight, how to survive, hell, he'd taught us how to read! I owed him a lot. We both did. He had mentioned, though that there were others like Blaze and I. Apparently, Jeb had taken care of them too.

There was one thing I would never do. And that is let the Facility, and anyone affiliated with them to get their hands on my baby. I'd die taking down a hundred erasers rather than let that happen. Looking up at Blaze, I knew he wouldn't let that happen either.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I woke up the next morning early. I decided to let Blaze sleep. He'd stayed up late watching the cave entrance. And he deserved it.

I walked silently down to the little river I'd found, and stilled the water for a moment looking at my reflection. A round face with a square jaw, delicate mouth, small forehead, and wide, bright glacier blue eyes framed by a long, thick fringe of dark eyelashes stared back at me. The thin line around my iris was a deep ocean blue, softening the lighter color that surrounded my pupil. My hair was, again, almost exactly like Blaze's but I had blue streaks, and the Facility kept my hair longer. We'd raided the guard's room, so we had combat boots, cargo pants, and T-shirts on.

I pursed my lips, and then drew out the water from the stream, letting it go back to its gushing, moving current. I separated the water from the toxins, and drank before filling a canteen we'd also stolen from the guard's room. I thought about my reflection, and then the baby when my stomach growled.

I couldn't stand the fact that I'd basically been turned into a brood mare. Only good be experimented on and to create more experiments. I wasn't too happy with my previous "caretakers" in case you haven't guessed yet.

I shook my head trying to rid myself of those thoughts. Then, I started foraging for food.

Coming back to the cave I saw that Blaze was gone. I looked around, almost panicking. I searched a bit farther into the cavern, finding nothing. I started running towards the mouth of the cave and ran into him, making him drop his armful of wood. Startled, he steadied me, and hugged me back when I wrapped my arms around his waist and squeezed.

My breathing was slowing down as he asked, "Saph, what's wrong? Are you okay?" I nodded. "I was just getting some firewood. I saw you were already up and near the stream." Blaze pulled away and looked at me worriedly, eyes searching my face. More quietly he continued, "You don't feel sick? The baby is fine?"

I nodded again. "Yes. I'm fine. And as far as I know, the baby is, too. I mean, it hasn't been that long, you know? So, how could it possibly not be fine? And it's not like I got hit in the stomach or anything so there's really nothing to worry about!" I laughed nervously. And then hysterically, and the laughing threatened to turn into crying.

Blaze hugged me tightly, shushing me, as the laughing turned into quiet sobs. "It's okay. Saph! Look at me. I'm here. It's okay."I looked at him and nodded. Sometimes, I think he knows me better than I know me. "We're both fine. They haven't found us, or tracked us or anything. In fact, how about we eat right now and start flying, okay?"

I hugged him tighter. If I didn't have Blaze, I'd be lost. He's basically my other half.

We ate, and not long after we took off, flying high in the atmosphere, and covering a lot of distance. We went on the next few weeks going between foraging for food, and stealing it. Often, we'd go to a store when it was closed, and I'd short the circuits collecting water from the humidity in the air and pooling it in the security systems, cameras and alarms alike. We'd sneak inside grab what we needed – including clothes from Wal-Mart and some bags and food – then split leaving everything pretty much untouched.

Soon we were in Arizona, somewhere around Phoenix. We were stopping for the night near a small house in the surrounding woods. We slept that night on the ground. I was beginning to show, and it was becoming more and more obvious. It hadn't been that long, though, so maybe the baby would grow faster because of my quicker metabolism, and quick healing ability. We'd only had a couple run-ins with erasers, and that was near the cities, which was why this was a one-night shot. We started packing up our things. And I was about to take a bite out of an apple when we heard a back door close and footsteps coming toward us.

I looked at Blaze, eyes wide. We'd done everything we could to avoid coming into contact with humans. Everything we knew about normal people screamed that they were volatile, and cruel. They could go from loving you to hating the sight of you in a moment's notice. Grabbing my stuff, I looked from Blaze to the nearest tree. He nodded, and we both jumped up into opposite limbs mere seconds before two kids out age, tall and thin came walking by. I held my breath. One, a girl, had dark streaked blond hair and she was a bit shorter than her male counterpart. He had black hair that fell over his eyes, and the dark eyes to match. There was something about the way they walked that betrayed an alertness not many people have.

I held my breath and stared at them, waiting for them to pass out of sight, but just past me, the male put a hand on her arm stopping her. My eyes widened. Crap. I looked down, and realized that I'd left a food wrapper on the ground. He bent and picked it up. "Max," he said slowly, "I think we're being watched." Her head jerked up and she looked directly at me. I slung my pack over my shoulder and jumped to the next branches to the top of the tree. I sprung and jumped into the air, snapping my wings out and beating the air, looking for a decent current.

I cursed looking around for Blaze, when I didn't hear him, or see him, I started worrying. "Fang!"It must have been the girl, Max. "I'm going after that girl, you take that one." The sound of fighting reached my ears. I dropped into the trees just as Max took to the air. I heard someone swear. Then I saw Max drop into the trees not far from me. I dropped to the dirt and hit the ground running. That dark haired guy, Fang, would _not _take my Blaze. I found the little bit of a clearing as saw that Blaze was grappling with Fang. Then I realized something. Max had come after me. In the air. They were bird kids too! Just as I saw Blaze get ready to blast the kid's face with some flames, I said , "Stop!"

At the same time, I also gathered water and froze the other two teenager's feet to the ground. Well, in Max's case, her legs from the waist down. "What the _hell_?!" Max. "Who the hell are you, and how the hell did you freeze us? Let us go!"

I laughed. "Yeah. Why? So you can attack us? I don't think so. And Max? That is your name, right? Girl, I've got the elemental powers, so I'll ask questions first. If you're a good little boy and girl, I'll unfreeze you. Or he will." I finished nodding at Blaze who was now standing with a possessive arm around my waist. I sighed, and sat down tiredly. "Okay. Do you both have wings?" I asked.

Max glared at me. "Why do you want to know? Who sent you?" I rolled my eyes.

"I want to know, because obviously, you aren't the only bird kids here." I spread my wings for emphasis. "And we weren't sent, thank you very much. We ran away. Any more stupid accusations you'd like to make?" I raised my eyebrows. "No? Okay then. We weren't sent. We escaped, maybe three weeks ago from the Facility. It's a bio-genetic research facility in the middle of nowhere up in the Catskill mountain range in New York State. We've been on the run ever since, and we're just trying to find someplace quiet, and abandoned far, far away from any civilization so we aren't found again. Mkay? Satisfied?"

Max nodded slowly. Fang stayed silent. Talk about the strong, silent type, huh? Though Max began, "What's with the ice?"

I glanced at Blaze then at the two captives, raising an eyebrow. He barely nodded. "Are you going to be a good girl, Max?"

"Yes. I'm going to be a good girl, who-ever-the-hell-you-are."

I smirked. "Fabulous." With another flick of the wrist I turned the ice to water, and sent the water back into the air. "We were part of an elemental avian design. There were originally four of us, but when we were three, the air and earth experiments both died. Now it's me and Blaze. I'm Sapphire. And I don't just control ice. I have control over water in general. In fact, if I pushed myself, I could know what you're thinking because of the water in your brain and surrounding your nerves. And Blaze?"

Blaze spoke for the first time, snapping and creating a small flame light up over his thumb. "I've got fire. But I can also use lightning, and can make lava. Yes! Magma!"

Max nodded. Fang was looking at us quizzically, shaking the cold out of his feet. He asked, "So what's with the hair and the wings?" he took a closer look and added, "And the eyes?"

I nudged Blaze with my elbow. He explained, "It's an aftereffect. It's not precisely clear why that happened, but it did. The kid who had air had white hair, almost white, gray eyes, and had wings like ours, but with white instead. Same with the kid who had Earth, though theirs were a combination of green and brown."

It was quiet after that. Then I caught Fang looking closely at my abdomen, and then his eyes flicked to Max then to me. Quickly I used my mind trick to read what was going on in his head.

_Hmm… She's like us… She can't be that different, and if they're on the run it's highly doubtful that she'd be over eating. God knows none of us gain any weight. So that only leaves… _He looked at Blaze and I jumped. How the hell did he figure that out so quick? I thought I'd just been paranoid, thinking that I was beginning to look obvious, but I guess not. I stared right at him. Daring Fang to meet my eyes. When he did, I looked down at my stomach and then nodded slightly. Fang's eyes widened.

I swallowed noisily. Then I leaned against Blaze for support. "There's another, big reason that we ran away, besides the obvious one of the experiments…" I played with my fingers. Quietly I continued, "I found out that one of the procedures they did when I was under, was to get me pregnant with another elemental avian. And it worked." I looked up and met their eyes as they both stared. Max was gawping at my stomach, and Fang just stared, not showing any emotion. "I wasn't about to let them ruin another child's life… Especially not my own." They nodded. I could tell that Max was a Tomboy, and that Fang was just… dark, reclusive, emotionless, etc. Similar to me, I suppose, but between the running and the raging hormones, I've lost most of my careful façade.

Max frowned and stepped toward me. "How are you doing?" I'd heard that question, asked by Blaze and thousand times, but this time I answered differently.

"As far as I know, I'm okay. But I don't really know. I have no clue how many kids I'm having or how long it'll be, or if I'm doing anything wrong… If you want to know the truth… I'm scared." I bit my lip, fighting tears. I hadn't told Blaze that, but if Max and Fang could help, or knew anyone who could… it was worth telling them.

Max and Fang looked at each other then Max walked over and they talked quietly, taking glances back at me and Blaze every few moments. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath while we waited before turning and hugging Blaze. He held me and laid his chin on the top of my head, watching Max and Fang. I let the tears escape, but I didn't sob. I pulled away and dispersed the tears and water from my face and Blaze's shirt into the air, so it wouldn't look like I'd been crying. But, I can't fix red eyes, so I'm screwed if they were that bad.

Max called to us, "Sapphire? Blaze? Why don't you come meet my mom? She's a human, but she's a vet… so she may be able to help." A vet? Oh the irony. Well, at least she's cool with the whole bird-kid deal.

I smiled. Blaze did too. Then he answered for both of us, "Thanks. Really. Thank you."


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: I'm waiting for reviews before I continue. I also want to know where you think the story should go. And there's one way to let me know... Review! Don't worry, Chapter four is being written, but I've been away for a week, so, no progress... and Word deleted some of my work on the chapter. -.-" **

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Chapter 3 –

I followed Fang and Max, clutching Blaze's hand tightly. We went around to the front. Max opened the door and we walked in. "Mom?" She called. "Mom, we have someone who needs to see you!" Some more kids came running into the room. As an older Hispanic lady, I guessed, came toward us.

A dark skinned girl with tight, bouncy curls started babbling questions at us, though we had no time to respond. Another girl, probably eight to ten was looking at me curiously, holding a white bear with little white wings. A blond boy, looking very similar to the girl with the bear stood next to her. There was also another boy our age that looked in our direction, but not at us. Something about that kid was off. The kids looked like they had the classic bird-kid traits, though, we – meaning Blaze and I – were a little different. We had guessed it was because of the elemental deal. I was a deal curvier and Blaze was better built. There was only one normal looking girl who looked similar to the older woman.

The older lady, probably Max's mom, asked, "Max, who are they?"

Max nodded. "Mom, this is Sapphire," She gestured to me and I smiled. "And Blaze." She indicated Blaze and he nodded. "They're like us." By "us" I suppose she meant all the kids.

"Ohmygod! How'd you meet these guys?! Sapphire? Oh my god, that's such a cool name! I'm Nudge, by the way! Where are you from?" She gasped. "Oh. My. GOD! I love your hair! It is so cool! Max won't let me color mine, though. I _so_ want to. And h--" The tall, pale, kid, who couldn't focus stopped Nudge with a hand over her mouth.

"Iggy can focus." The little curly haired blond girl with the bear was looking up at me. I raised my eyebrows. "He's blind is all." I nodded and bent down to be eye-level with her.

"Hmm…" I thought, _What's your name, sweetie_?

Then I heard her voice in my head, and that _really_ shocked me. _I'm Angel. This is Celeste_. She held up her bear. _And that's Iggy, Nudge, and Gazzy. They all have wings, too. You have them, right? _I nodded. _Can I see?_ I smiled and turned spreading them as people stared at us.

I closed them and turned around. They were looking at me a bit strangely. I bit my lip. Then the chatterbox started going on about how my wings were blue, and how did I find time to color them. I looked at Max and raised an eyebrow glancing at Nudge. It was my "Seriously? I mean really?" look. She sighed and nodded, looking exhausted.

"I mean, seriously how do you do that? They look so cool! And they don't look fake at all! Ohmigosh can you show me?!" Nudge gushed.

I sighed. "Nudge, it's natural. We're elementals. Apparently those lab lackeys, that people call 'scientists,' were trying to make super soldiers. So they used the same plans used for you guys, but modified us somehow and we can control the elements. For some reason our hair, eyes, and wings are a side effect of the manipulation. Because I control water, or anything liquid related, ice, snow, etc., my hair, eyes, and wings are blue. Blaze--"

"I can control fire, heat, anything related to it. If it can cause a flame, I can use it. Unless it's liquid; that's Saph's deal. But that's why I'm all red," Blaze cut in, smiling crookedly. "Don't ask us how the lab jockeys pulled it off," He continued. "But they did. And as a side effect Saph is telepathic. She can control people with the water in their bodies, too. And I can manipulate emotions and feelings like pain, make sensory illusions."

They all stared open mouthed. I swallowed and subtly leaned into Blaze. That was as much of a show of anxiety as they'd get from me. Almost instantly Blaze used his recently-mentioned ability to calm me down. Unfortunately, as usual, it didn't work very well. Blaze brushed my hand casually with his hand before bringing it up and running it through his hair. That was his way of saying, "Listen to my thoughts." I complied.

_Hmm?_ I thought to him.

_Are you okay? Did I make a difference this time? Or did it just barely have any effect… again? _His hand dropped back to his side and he clutched my hand. I sighed, and shook my head slightly.

_Didn't work. I could tell you tried, but no cigar, Smokey. Sorry. And yes, I'm fine. Hopefully this vet lady can help us out. Ironic… that it's a vet working on a pregnant teenage bird-kid with freaky mental abilities and elemental powers. Yeah. That's totally normal._ I looked at Max.

"So… You said your mom might be able to help us…?" I began. She shook her head, clearing it, I supposed.

"Uh, yeah. Mom, can we talk to you?" She glanced at the rest of the kids. "Alone?" She added. The older woman nodded.

"Of course. Follow me." She walked out of the main room into a hall and turned into a dining room. Once we were all inside, she closed the door started walking away, then turned back to the door and said, "If any of you are listening stop. That means you, Iggy. Angel, you too. No mind reading." She turned back to us. "So what did you need?"

I bit my lip slightly, choosing my words. "We just recently escaped from the Facility. It's a segment of the Itex Corporation. There used to be four Elementals. The air and earth ones died when we were all three. And recently I found out that they were trying to create more elementals from Blaze and I for experimentation. In other words, I'm pregnant, and I wasn't about to let them use another child for experimentation, especially not my own." The urge to show more emotion than the smooth mask of calm I wore, was easily stifled. Though not as easy as usual… stupid hormones…

We were sitting at the table. Looking at Max's mom, I pleaded with my eyes. I wasn't sure how to start this. I never asked for help. I gave it, but I never asked for it. Blaze solved my dilemma for me, though.

"What Saph is trying to get at is that we're worried about the baby. Or… babies, whatever the case may be. We don't know what to expect, or what to do… Dr…?" He let it hang, asking her name.

"Martinez. Valencia Martinez," she answered promptly. Max was a lucky girl. She had a good mom and a family. Lucky her.

"Dr. Martinez," Blaze continued, "Could you help us? Even just a little would be somewhat of a relief. We'd be glad to do anything to help you in return. Money isn't really available, but--"

"No."

Blaze nodded. "Understandable. Thank you fo--"

Dr. Martinez was shaking her head. "I didn't mean, 'No, I won't help you.' I meant, 'No you don't have to do anything for me.'" She smiled kindly. God, the woman must be a saint. "I can see you're just as unfortunate as Max, Fang, and the rest of the Flock have been. I'd be happy to help. Just as long as I may take some notes, perhaps…?"

My eyes widened a bit. That's all she wanted? Just to take some notes in exchange for help with my pregnant teenage bird-kid problems? That was a done deal. "Done." I nodded, adding a bit of finality to the deal.

'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'

A half hour, claustrophobia induced anxiety, and countless nervous twitches later, we were at Dr. Martinez's office. It wasn't overly huge, but it was well equipped. She led Blaze and I to a room with an ultrasound machine in it. The entire building smelled of animals, sick, healthy or otherwise, said animals' waste, countless disinfectants, and pet food.

"Okay, Sapphire. Just lower your pants a bit, then lie down and lift up your shirt for me," Max's mom instructed. I complied. I swallowed compulsively, old memories of my lately escaped childhood, coming back to haunt me. Blaze came and stood on my left side, opposite Dr. Martinez and the machine, and clutched my hand. With an expert hand, the older woman applied the ultrasound gel to my swollen belly and took the little do-hickey attached to the machine, to look inside my abdomen. At first I couldn't see what we were looking at, but as the doctor moved the ultrasound implement, I began to recognize what looked like babies with little wings… wait… babies?!

Unconsciously, I squeezed Blaze's hand harder than I'd meant to, and he grunted. I cleared my throat. "Um… Dr. Martinez?" She looked at me for a moment then back to the machine. "Exactly how many rugrats are we talking about, here?"

"Hmm…" She squinted at the monitor. "Two?" She probed the lower part of my stomach. "Yes. I'd say two. Definitely twins. They aren't old enough to tell the genders, yet, but you're going to be a mother of two, Saph."

I nodded. At the same time that I dreaded knowing I had not one, but two ankle biters to look forward to caring for, night and day, I also softened looking at the screen. I mean, these weren't just _my_ children. They were Blaze's, too, and that made them beautiful to me. He probably already knew how I felt about him by now, with his emotion sensing, but I still hadn't voiced my adoration of Blaze to his face yet. But… maybe… maybe I would soon.

Wait, what was I thinking? This could complicate everything! What if after I tell him, he doesn't feel the same? What if he just wants to stay friends? What if we got in a fight later on and he left me and the kids?! I couldn't be able to defend them from Erasers alone for long! My breathing started to pick up pace and my heartbeat started racing as my anxiety started to hit full throttle. I went ramrod still, trying to get a hold on my emotions, but they were fighting back relentlessly.

"Saph? Saph? What's wrong?" Blaze's worried face searched my eyes. Listening to his thoughts, I found that he thought I was anxious because of the babies, that maybe I didn't love them. That perhaps, I only cared because I didn't want someone else going through the kind of torture we endured. I tried to calm my breathing and focus on Blaze.

I felt someone grabbing my wrist and pressing their fingers to it. "Sapphire, calm down. If you're too anxious all the time you'll hurt the babies." That was Dr. M. I nodded, closing my eyes. Breathing carefully. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. Blaze's comforting, familiar hand brushed the hair out of my face and rubbed my neck comfortingly. From behind the sheet of my eyelids, I heard Dr. Martinez ask, "Does this happen to you often?"

I nodded, still focusing on my breathing.

"Sapphire, that's very bad. You were close to a panic attack. You can't be so stressed out… And I can't prescribe any anti-anxiety medication…" She sighed gustily. I opened my eyes and glanced from Blaze, to the kind woman, to my bulge and back again. Max's mother looked at Blaze. "I need you to keep an eye on her. Make sure she doesn't get too worried, or lapse into a panic attack. You can manipulate her emotions as well, yes?"

He shook his head sadly. "No, but I can calm her down better than anyone else, I'm sure. But no, I can't manipulate her emotions." I squeezed Blaze's hand and smiled looking embarrassed. He smiled back. He face softened. Unfortunately, I'm completely ignorant when it comes to complicated emotions. I couldn't have read his expression if my life depended on it. Though… was that regret? Damn it! Why couldn't I read emotions as well as I could thoughts?!

"On a lighter note," Dr. M began after shaking her head. "I can give you the pictures from the ultrasound if you'd like." She looked at me and Blaze. I looked up shocked. Pictures of our kids? I looked at Blaze, pleading with my eyes. It still shocked me a bit when I thought 'our kids.' I'd never thought I would ever be able to live to my teens much less have children. When Blaze nodded and smiled, eyes crinkling. I was surprised at how happy that made me. Me? Happy? Impossible… yet somehow, I was.

"Yeah. I think we'd like that. Could you? Please?" Blaze, my wonderful, kind, Blaze asked smiling. Were my knees getting weak while sitting? Jeez, I have issues.

With that, we got our pictures, and drove home. Blaze and I stayed in the back seat, staring at the black and white photos. I couldn't remember the last time I'd ever looked at something so… so… lovingly? Was that what I was feeling? I looked at Blaze and asked him mentally, not wanting to let our kind acquaintance know just how emotionally incompetent I really was.

Blaze nodded laughing at me silently. _Yeah. That is what you're feeling. But… why were you feeling hints of loss, rejection, terror, and worry when you were going into that anxiety scare? Don't scare me like that, either. I was worried something was going wrong. _ I knew what he meant. I didn't know what to say… I didn't want to tell him. I was a telepath, not a psychic. So the same answer that could ease my anxiety and his, I wasn't going to voice. So I half-lied, though hesitantly.

_I was worried about what may happen after the twins are born_. He didn't look like he believed me, but he nodded anyway. My eyes tightened ever so slightly. For a moment, I wanted nothing more than to admit everything, how I felt – or thought I felt – about him and just cry on Blaze's shoulder until I couldn't cry anymore. I wanted to scream and shout, and curl up and disappear and kill every white coat wearing lab lackey that was ever even slightly associated with Itex. But I wouldn't. I would never do any of those things in the near future at the very least. Maybe I was too careful, and removed that way, but that's how I was. I didn't show emotion. I was cool and calm as a secluded lake. Sure, my rages could be as bad as any tempest, but most of the time I was as calm as a crystalline pool. I was practically the embodiment of water in any of its forms, like Blaze was of fire. Our element was highly influential upon our personalities and mannerisms.

I sighed and looked back at the pictures looking for similarities in the twins either between myself or their father. It was probably a lost cause; it seemed a bit early, but… I still kept at it. Unconsciously, I'd put my hand on my swelling abdomen. Looking down at the bump, I smiled. It was going to be a long, hard, dangerous road. But I'd do it. Not for myself. But for Blaze and the twins. These words have been said before, but come hell or high water, I'd face anything for them. Especially if I got to stick it to the Facility and the Itex corporation in the process.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** **Okay, so here's the fourth chapter! I hope you enjoy. And don't forget to review, beloved readers! It let's me know if the story is good enough.**

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Chapter 4-

The days wore on, and Ace and I settled into life with the Flock, Dr. Martinez, and her human daughter, Ella. In a couple days the rest of the flock found out what was going on with me. Then there was much fussing, and gushing (especially from Nudge) and hovering. I got to the point that I had to chill and dump water on Nudge, Angel, and Ella saying that I didn't know if the twins were girls or boys yet, and no I didn't want to name them until I found that out. I was also just planning on winging it and naming them on the spot once they were born. Crossing my arms over my chest and leaning my forehead on my fingertips I said, keeping my eyes closed, "Look. I'm sixteen. I'm more worried about being able to eat enough to keep myself alive, than I am with a bunch of letters and sounds. Oh, and on top of that, I have to keep from having an anxiety attack! Too much stress isn't good for me or the twins, comprende?"

"Oh…" Nudge said, looking sheepish like the other two culprits next to her. Then they were shivering from the air conditioning that was blowing on them.

Angel looked up at me pitifully, shaking from the cold. I sighed gustily. Then I warmed the water on them and called every last drop back from their clothes letting it disperse into the air. Walking out of the room I had been in, I walked directly into Fang. I looked up at him.

"Pardon me, tall, dark, and silent. I'm off to go get away from Tweedle Dum, Tweedle Dee, and the Cheshire Cat. You think Blaze'll actually let me fly around for a while?" I lifted a dark eyebrow questioning.

He looked down at me and his mouth quirked fractionally to the side. "Um, probably not, Saph." I nodded pursing my lips.

I put in, "You're right. As over-protective as he is? I ask him if I can fly, or go on my own, he'll try and take all the fun out of it by carrying me the entire time. Huh…" I tapped his shoulder twice. "Thanks for the input big guy. You're pretty talkative today. Glad we could have this little chat. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a date with a box of Cheez-Its." I nodded, winking, and smirking, only slightly, as he had. We were similar. He was quieter than I, but we had hit it off all the same. Neither of us liked to show emotion, and both of us kept logic and emotion separate from each other. He understood me and I him. Simple people, simple actions. We weren't that complicated.

I did just as I said I would, moving to the kitchen and grabbing the Cheez-Its. Taking the Cheez-Its with me, I walked outside and into the woods behind the house. I sat with my back to the house against the tree and looked at the sky, munching the little cheese crackers. Soon I closed my eyes and sat the box of crackers down, one hand on my stomach which was about an eighth of an inch wider after four days of living with Dr. Martinez. The woman was a saint, I swear. She took me and Blaze shopping, and let us stay with her in her loft upstairs. I couldn't believe that someone could be so kind, not asking many questions, just doing. We'd gotten lucky as all hell.

Of course, my good luck just had to end somewhere, didn't it?

I heard a snap and a growl. I spread my thoughts and found that the minds around me were feral, hungry, malicious and completely bent on retrieving me. I gasped and stood up, then climbed the tree behind me. I leapt to the air and quickly caught a wind as I reached the top, just as a strong hand grabbed my ankle. I screamed and kicked at him, sending ice shards at his face. The eraser screamed, letting go of me. I soared up and away from the house casting about with my thoughts to the house.

_Get the hell out of the house! There're erasers all over the place. They're after me, but that means nothing if they've been after you since you escaped._

I felt affirmation. The Flock and Blaze were flying away from the Erasers. Then Angel spoke to me from her point behind me. _Blaze wants you to loop back around toward him or wait for him. And he wants you to contact him._

I did so and practically fell under mental pain from the volume of Blaze's thoughts_. God! Blaze I'm fine! Just, hurry! If they come after me, there isn't much I can do. _

_Why the hell were you out on your own? You should have been here where I could protect you! _

_Why? So I can be smothered and stressed? I don't think so. I needed some space. And I would have left anyway so I didn't lead the erasers directly to the house. Hurry up. _I was getting tired. Since I realized what the lab lackeys had done, I also realized I hadn't been sleeping as well. It's been gradually getting worse. So resting and sleep? Not easy for me. Added weight didn't help when flying, either. I was anxious, too, so, I did what I usually did, and rubbed my stomach.

Suddenly I felt a grunt and arms go around my middle. I screamed and thrashed, hearing a hiss of pain. Then, "Ow! Saph, it's me, it's okay. Jesus. Put your wings back." I complied and he carried me bride style. "Max, Fang, and Iggy were scouting the attack area, and Nudge, Angel, and the Gasman were coming this way. And… oh there they are. Let's go." Blaze sped up and flew above the youngest three members of the Flock. Ella had left for a friend's house after I had gone outside.

"Okay… so… What do we do now?" I looked at Blaze.

He bit his lip, frowning. "Wait for Max, Fang and Iggy to come back here." He paused, red-hazel eyes looking behind him.

I grabbed his chin, directing Blaze's eyes back to my face. "They need help. Otherwise they would have been here by now. I am not going to just sit and wait here while they risk their lives. We have elemental manipulation on our side, they don't. Think about it, Blaze. Are you really being smart?"

"Yes. I'm not letting you go down there. There's always the chance they can capture you and high tail it. I'm not taking that chance, Saph."

I rolled my eyes. "Let me go. I'm going whether you like it or not."

"No."

"Blaze! I don't have time for this! They don't either! Not let me the hell go, so I can do something and not feel useless," I yelled, fuming. "Don't make me do it."

He narrowed his eyes at me. "You wouldn't dare."

"Try me, pyro." I chilled my hands while pushing against his stomach. It was his weak spot against me. It was where he got his core of heat from. One blast of cold would shock him, and he'd drop me.

"Fine!" He let me go easy, and I swooped back to the sounds of fighting, telling Angel to tell Gazzy and Nudge to stay and wait with her. I dropped through the trees, shooting ice shards at the visible erasers. Blaze did the same with flames.

I sat on a high tree branch and surveyed what was going on. Max was fighting two, Iggy was fighting three, no, make that two, one just dropped, and Fang was fighting three. One was coming up behind Fang, though. Some manipulation and bodily fluid freezing later, Fang was helping Max, and Blaze was helping Iggy. I focused on taking out erasers until one that I hadn't seen grabbed my leg and attempted to pull me out of my perch. What was it with erasers and my legs today?!

I kicked at the wolf-man's face and forced the blood in his veins to all rush to his head, away from his heart and lungs. Without blood in his tissues, he couldn't function. Then he fell from the tree, and cracked his head on a rock, dizzy from too much blood in the brain.

There weren't any erasers in sight, and I asked everyone how they were with my thoughts before checking my mental radar for any more erasers that were in hiding. Seeing none, I motioned the rest of our little combat team up and away.

Max and Fang led the way to a cave on a mountain not far away. We stayed there for a while hiding, resting, whatever.

"Is everyone alright?" Max asked. Everyone nodded, but I wasn't paying much attention. I was thinking about things. Staring out at the red rock below us I lost all connection with the world, except my thoughts.

I couldn't impose on the Flock and Dr. Martinez and Ella. Not after that, if they knew where we were, then they would keep coming after us, and I'd led the erasers right to the people who'd been so kind. I wouldn't be the cause of the end of their happiness. I'd come back every so often for checkups with Dr. Martinez, but that was it. I was going to take Blaze and leave. If I had the twins in the wild, so be it, but I wasn't going to drag the Flock back into the thick of the world they'd escaped. I sounded like a broken record, even in my own inner monologue, but that's what I decided.

I was tempted to just drag Blaze out of the cave right now, and fly away, but I couldn't do that. I'd make sure the Flock got back safe, I'd grab our packs and some clothes, then I'd get out of dodge.

A small hand touched my arm. I looked down to see Angel. She looked on the verge of tears. She moved the hand to my belly. She stared up at me with her blue eyes. And mentally she begged, _Please don't go Saph. We'll miss you. I'll miss you. We want to meet the twins. And we'll miss Blaze too. Don't leave. You just got here!_ The little girl hugged me tightly, and I held her. The first tear spilled over, and it was like the flood gates opening.

_Sweetie, I don't really want to but I have to. And I need Blaze to come with me. We'll come back and visit, don't worry bu--_

"Angel? Saph? What's wrong?" Max looked at us worriedly. Crap… I didn't want to have to deal with this now.

Angel looked at Max tearfully and said, "Saph thinks she has to go. She thinks that if she stays she'll put us in danger. That… that she'll ruin things for us. But… I don't want her and Blaze to go."

The Flock and Blaze stared at me. Sad and incredulous gazes on Nudge and the Gasman, and an unhappy one on Iggy's to a slightly confused, possibly angry one on Max's. Fang was actually showing emotion and it didn't look happy. Blaze looked at me, a bit confused. I smiled apologetically.

Still hugging Angel, I looked at Max as she said, "She's right Angel, her being here does put us in danger but we can't let them leave." Max's steeled brown eyes met mine. "Sapphire, you can't just up and walk out. What will you do when the twins are born? What happens if you have to give birth alone in the wild, with only Blaze to protect you? No. You aren't leaving. It's out of the question. You may have only been here for a week, but you're like family, now, already. And we don't let family leave. At least not anymore." She glanced sourly at Fang who rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, Saph. We like having you guys around. Blaze heats food up better than a microwave! And I haven't seen an explosion like that since we set off that bomb back at the old house in Colorado!" Gazzy put in. He and Iggy had taken Blaze out for some explosive testing somewhere secluded. Blaze smiled at that.

Nudge put in, "And we want to meet the twins! I mean, like, they're going to be so cute! And what if they have elemental powers, too? That would be so cool, and you could use the help! And even though you can get kind of mad and stuff, you're a lot of fun to play darts with. You can keep the ice cream cold, too!"

Iggy put in, "Who's going to be the living refrigerator, and microwave/detonator if you guys leave?"

I sighed still a bit unconvinced. I couldn't argue with Max's logic, though. If I did end up having the twins, and erasers attacked us, we'd be toast. And I really didn't think we'd be able to defend ourselves on our own.

My face was a mask. I knew it for a fact. Yet Fang still pointed out. "She's giving in. They're going to stay."

I looked at him. "I do have a voice you know, Fang. I can tell people what I will and won't be doing, you know." He just shrugged.

Blaze touched my shoulder. "So we are staying, Miss I'll-Decide-What-We-Do-Without-Telling-Blaze?"

"Hey, I was going to ask you about it, but little Miss Psychic intruded on my inner monologues." Pointing out Angel, who had stopped crying and was still hugging me, Blaze nodded in understanding. Angel wiped her eyes and sniffed. She looked at me. Hope dawned in the little bird-girl's eyes.

"So you really aren't leaving?" I nodded. "Yay!" Angel hugged me the tension dissipated in the cave. So this is what it was like to have a family. I wasn't sure whether to be relieved, or annoyed that I could no longer decide things and go with it.

I felt like this sufficiently summed up my future life at the moment: Take out all freedom and ability to decide for self. Add a whole lot of domestic life, a dab of chaos, and don't forget to liberally add in the crazy science corporation bent on kidnapping pregnant bird kid and friends for experimentation. Sounds great, right?


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5-

Life settled into a boring line of late night doctor's appointments, attempts to keep calm, and a lot of irritation either from Nudge, Angel, and Ella's hounding, or Blaze's smothering. Blaze's need to stay near me constantly, was the more aggravating of the two, actually. No matter what I did to tell him to back off, he wouldn't quit. If he asked me if I needed anything one more time, or wouldn't let me get things for myself, I'd deck him. He'd give me hell for it, but hey, at least I'd feel better.

Another issue of Blaze's not letting me do anything for myself? I was not allowed to leave the house without him, and flying? More than five feet? You'd think I was trying call upon Satan to create the anti-Christ. The only people who didn't aggravate me were Fang and Max. Max because she liked her independence as much as I did, and thought that Blaze was, in fact, being overly protective. Fang didn't annoy me, because he was quiet and didn't bring my untimely pregnancy to my attention every five seconds. Honestly? I already knew that yes, I was going to have two tiny elemental bird-kids. I could tell. It's a bit hard to ignore the giant bulge on the lower half of my midsection.

It'd been about two and a half months since the confrontation in the cave. So far, there'd been no Erasers or Flyboys after us. I was still too on edge to get comfortable. By Dr.M's calculations I should be finished with all this baby-carrying business in about another two and a half months. The little buggers were in fact growing faster than normal human babies, and I was having one of each. A little boy and a girl. I had been contemplating baby names, before drifting off to sleep in the room Blaze and I shared. He had an inflatable mattress on the floor. So far Blaze liked Aiden or Sebastian if it was a boy. I liked those names, but I also really liked Kodiak. Don't ask me why, but I did. I figured I'd call him Kodi as a nickname. On the other hand we still had a little she-devil to name. On that front I like Andromeda or maybe Violet, Artemis or something epic sounding. Blaze liked Emily or Cyreenah.

At this moment in time, I was thinking about a compromise, some way to get a name that I liked, while giving Blaze his part in the name. For example, if we named our daughter (god that was weird to think in terms like that) Artemis, we could call her 'Emmy' for short, or 'Andy' instead of Andromeda. Who knows? Maybe we'll be somehow transfixed by some higher power and two names that would match our kids perfectly, would spontaneously pop up into both of our minds; at the exact moment that we see the ankle biters for the first time.

I sound so enthusiastic, don't I? Okay, so I may be insulting my soon-to-be-born kids, but I was pretty sure it was only the hormones and anxiety talking. After thinking about all that, I stared at the ceiling as I usually did, and wished that I could actually think of some good names when I finally drifted off to sleep. I wasn't greeted by pleasant dreams as I'd hoped, but horrid blurry nightmares, where it felt like I couldn't see around me when I was being attacked, like I was being restrained. Then I came to a point of clarity. I was holding my twins, screaming my anguish as Blaze was killed trying to protect us from an Eraser. Then I was shot in the back, my babies were taken from me, and torn apart before my eyes. I couldn't move, I couldn't scream or cry out, just watch in horror as the newborns' blood drenched me, and Blaze's blood soaked the ground like a dumping of water on new carpet. My eyes snapped open just as an Eraser bent toward me and shook me.

Looking around, I saw Blaze where the Eraser had been. He was cradling me to his chest, smoothing out sweat-soaked hair. I continued crying into his chest, clinging to Blaze. In that one dream I'd lost everything I'd been working to protect for my entire life. Blaze, myself, any kids Itex wanted to get a hold of.

After I'd calmed down a bit, Blaze asked quietly, "What happened? Anything I can do to help?" I shook my head. "It'll make you feel better, Saph. We've been doing this for how long again?"

I sniffed. "Twelve years."

"Right. So . . . you decide not to tell me after so long because . . .?"

"Because I lost the most important things in the world to me in that nightmare, and I just . . . don't want to explain." I looked away, still shaken and cold from the cold sweat that had broke out when I was being bombarded. If he forced it out of me, I might end up blabbing about the way I felt. If he found out, what if he didn't feel the same? Or it was simply familiar? No romance whatsoever? I wouldn't tell him. If he didn't feel the same and skipped out . . . I couldn't stand for him to ever, ever leave me!

I felt my breath begin to hitch and my heartbeat start pounding. No! No, I couldn't go into a panic attack. That was bad. So, so, bad. Just as I thought I'd go into hysterics my mind went blank when Blaze did something I'd never expect him to do.

He kissed me.

Not just a friendly peck on the cheek, but a slow touch to the lips. My jaw dropped slightly. I just couldn't comprehend what had just happened. My senses screamed that it was obvious, but my mind just couldn't wrap itself around what'd just occurred. The only thought that would bring itself to the front of my mind was, _Huh?_

My eyelids fluttered like a blind man seeing a summer's day for the first time. I had the overwhelming urge to orally attack him, but I just couldn't do it. I wouldn't be that brave. At the same time that I could be so daring, so strong, I was still very, very scared. Most of my courage was a façade. I just wasn't that naturally buoyant.

That lack of natural bravery is what kept me from telling Blaze what he wanted to know, and what I _knew_ would help ease my panic attacks. Instead my eyes wouldn't meet his and I stared at my hands instead of his face, the tears flowing fiercely down my cheeks. Tears were one kind of liquid I loathed like no other. They betrayed intense things I wanted to hide. Subjects were brought to utmost priority because of tears. The answer that I knew Blaze had for me would make or break me. I knew for a fact he was the only thing that kept me sane, as much as he seemed to drive me from it.

"Why are you always in pain when you look at me?"

My head snapped up at his words. "What? What do you mean?"

Blaze's face held anger and frustration. "I mean that whenever you look at me, I always get signals of emotion pain, panic, and indecision like when you had your first ultrasound. Why are you always in that kind of distress when you look at me? Why is it exactly the same tonight but so much worse? I've never seen you this bent out of shape . . . Except for when I had that adverse reaction to the food they tried on us . . . and you thought I was going to die."

Keeping my face and voice void of emotion, I replied, "So what do you think it is?"

"Did I do something wrong that upset you, Saph? Do you want me to leave? If you want me to, I will I just thought--"

"What? No! No! You didn't do anything to upset me! Nothing that would ever make me want you to leave!" I grabbed his face and stared him in the eye, tears that had subsided flowing with new force. "Don't you ever, ever leave me! You are never allowed to leave me! I can't . . . I can't do this without you . . ." My death grip on his head loosened. The devastation had to be clear on my face as I lowered my eyes to his collar. "D-don't go anywhere, Blaze. Please. Please, don't go," I whispered.

With those words, I resolved that I might as well come out with it as he stayed silent. I sounded broken, miserable. I had probably been right in my decision to keep my feelings to myself. An awkward silence fell over us. The tension was palpable and tighter than a bowstring about to snap. Blaze kept his eyes hidden against my shoulder. He took a long shuddering breath and laughed humorlessly.

He finally met my eyes. I didn't dare look into his thoughts; I was too afraid of what was there. I saw determination and a bit of anger in Blaze's eyes. It was the same face he made when he refused the white-coats something. Wait, what was that other twinge of something? Was that pain? No! It couldn't be. "Sapphire. Tell me what you haven't been telling me. Tell me what's been causing your panic attacks. Saph. Sapphire!" he grabbed my chin and roughly forced me to look him in the eye. "What have you been hiding?"

"I can't tell you," I told Blaze quietly.

"If you can't tell me something like this then why can't I leave? If I can't even help you the way you've helped me, what's my reason to stay? If I leave, I may be able to keep the erasers off your trail. If they think we left, then they'll chase me instead. Give me one reason why I should stay other than 'You're not allowed.'" It was a challenge, and he was completely serious. I could tell he wasn't bluffing at all. What he didn't understand was that it wasn't him that was causing me pain, it was me. If I were as assertive as I put off, I'd have told Blaze everything and given into almost every teenage impulse I'd always fought. Instead I hid from him and tortured him, my fear of the worst case scenario hurting both of us.

I needed him to stay. I was being forced to tell him. I opened my mouth to tell him but . . . my mouth wouldn't obey. I groaned, frustrated. He waited. "Blaze, I . . . I lo—" My voice cracked.

"What are you trying to say? You what," Blaze prompted. I took a deep breath and mumbled what I was trying to say quietly. Blaze kindly told me, "Sapphire, I can't hear what you're saying."

I spoke a bit louder and much more clearly, "I said, you can't leave me because of the twins. And because . . . b-because I love you. Look, if that isn't good enough a reason, then just leave. Or I will. I'm not about to put the Flock or you in unnecessary danger." With that, my resolve firmed. I'd leave. I could almost tell from his shocked silence that he didn't feel the same; that he'd have left either way, regardless of my answer. I grabbed a packed bag, I'd kept hidden behind the dresser in the corner.

I had my shoes on and was almost into the hall when Blaze's mind began to function properly. His hand, warm with his excitement and emotion enclosed my bicep and he pulled me back in, and closed the door to our room. The next thing I knew, he had his mouth on mine in what I swore was the most passionate act in the history of time itself.

Blaze grabbed the bag and threw it roughly behind him. I broke away to breathe, leaning my head on his shoulder. He was now quite a bit taller than I was, him having grown two and a half inches since we left the Facility. Blaze hugged me as close as possible given my current . . . size.

"Don't you . . . ever try and . . . go anywhere . . . without me," Blaze said catching his breath. He orally assaulted me again (not that I much protested, I could have, but I didn't.) Smiling, he said, "By the way . . . I love you, too."


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** _Okay! I am so amazingly glad that people have been reading my fic! Really, thank you! I've gotten a ton of hits but, sadly. . . Very little reviews! Please, please, please review!_

_Item # 2: I want to put a bit of the readers into the story, so I've put up two polls on my profile for you guys to use! I'm trying to think of a couple good names for the twins, so if you have ideas, or like any of the names take the time and vote or PM me! Again, thank you! I hope you all enjoy this next chapter!_

_(I don't own any of this but for the events, Blaze, Saph, and the Twins!)_

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Chapter 6-

After Blaze admitted his own affections for me, I became quite a strange individual, indeed. I started to skip around the house, sing to myself, smile all the time, and not be as irritated at Angel, Nudge, and Ella's needling and constant presence. Blaze stuck to me like glue, too. Blaze's air-mattress on the floor became unused as well. . .

No! We weren't doing anything risque, but I did sleep better in his arms. Yes, I know that sounds unbelievably sappy, but in all honestly, he worked better than prescription sleeping pills. He worked kind of like that teddy bears some kids can't sleep without. There did come one odd moment, though when I'd woken up one night. It had felt like Blaze had been almost tickling my stomach, but his hand wasn't anywhere near the spot in question. Then it happened again and I almost smacked myself in the forehead for not realizing right away what it was. It was one of the twin's kicking! Or punching, whatever the case may be. For that moment, I sat up thinking about how real the prospect of being a teenaged genetically altered mother was. I nudged Blaze and he snorted, looking at me groggily.

"Wha's wrong?" He blinked and rubbed sleep out of his eyes. I shook my head, completely awake and totally excited. I wanted to see the look on Blaze's face when he felt the twins' kicking.

I grabbed his hand and placed it over the spot where I kept feeling their movements. "Wait. I woke up from--" right on queue one of our little unborn ankle-biters moved. "That. Can you guess what it is?"

Blaze looked uncomprehending for a minute, still trying to think through the fog, and then, like the sun shining through the clouds, realization hit. The words were caught in his throat. I was leaning against the wall and closest to the window, and Blaze was leaning on his elbow up, against the wall. "Was that . . . the twins? _Our_ twins?"

I nodded, unable to help the wide smile that spread across my face. "Mhmm. I think it was probably the girl, since she seemed to be the one in front . . ." I smiled fondly, rubbing my mid-section. Blaze cracked a sly, tired smile.

"How much you wanna bet that she takes after you," Blaze inquired, his red eyes staring into mine.

"I don't know. I kind of got the feeling she'd be a daddy's girl. That would leave me with a little momma's boy, but we both know that wouldn't be a bad thing." I laughed. It was odd how free I was these days. I was still afraid of erasers and flyboys finding us, but less so, now.

Blaze pulled me down to his level, nuzzling my neck. "Mm-hmm. Now, how about we worry about that kind of thing later, yes?" I chuckled and gave in. Sarcastically, I thought, wow, he really has to pull my leg to bend me to his will, doesn't he?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next day, all of us – the Flock, Blaze, and I – were out picnicking in the woods when a feeling of unease hit me like a brick wall in a car at 70 miles per hour.

"Am I the only one that doesn't feel right?" I looked around at everyone else while eating my peanut-butter-banana-and-chocolate sandwich. They all nodded.

"Yeah. You're the only one that's bugging, Saph," Max said. Fang nodded his agreement, dumping a mini-bag of Cheez-Its in his mouth. Blaze looked at me in concern. Iggy stared vaguely in my direction. Then his head jerked up.

He said quietly, "Did anyone else hear that twig break?" Again everyone shook their heads "no" but now, we were on high alert. I scanned for thoughts from the words around us. I stared blankly at the tree canopy when I found a hostile mind that screamed "ATTACK!" just as I touched it.

"MOVE!" I screamed, sending large ice shards in a 360 around our picnic area. Gunshots rang out followed shortly thereafter by erasers vaulting into our picnic area. A bullet lodged itself in my hamstring causing me to fall to the ground screaming.

Blaze wasn't having any of that. Running to my side, he crouched protectively over me "I'm going to use the sunburst," He whispered. "Freeze the Flock in place behind a sheet of ice. I'll fry the erasers." I did ask he asked as soon as was possible with my mind unable to focus on much more than pain. I was secretly worried, though. The sunburst was a maneuver that Blaze and I had thought up, though never tried. We had both come up with the most insanely powerful ways to use the elements if ever need be. His was the sunburst where he let out a giant ball of atomically hot flames; whereas mine was the arctic tempest where I would make much of the water in the air into ice that would fall upon people in the area. I was scared, now; I hadn't thought of much more than the task I'd been set when Blaze iterated his plan. Now that I thought about it, I was worrying about him; what if Blaze used up too much power and burned his self out!?

I yelled to the Flock, "Cover your eyes with your wings! PRONTO!" I added a mental push to it and followed my own order. I prayed to any gods that would listen that Blaze would still be alive after he saved our asses. I'd be sorely tempted to kill myself if I lost him.

Suddenly I felt something of an electric charge shake the atmosphere coming from the direction of Blaze's mind. Then the air pressure changed. Tears flowed down my cheeks dropping to mingle with the blood from my leg. Bullets shot at the thick ice in the dead calm of the weather as Blaze forced his wild element to bend to his will. Then it happened. The blast went out like the gasoline explosion at the facility, only about ten times bigger and controlled, low to the ground.

Then I heard the screams.

The erasers, flyboys, gunman, m-geeks, all of them were being burned alive. Not one of them was spared. Including the ones in the van in the background – the van also blew sky high. It wasn't just physical screams that pierced my mind; it was the mental ones that shook me, more. I was haunted by the rare agony and anguish of each moment that they ripped through my skull. I fell over, writhing in pain. I knew they had meant harm to Blaze, our friends, and me, but I just couldn't take that we were ending their lives like that. Some of the humans and erasers thought that they were already in hell. It wasn't any of their faults that they were after us; they were mostly mutants and machines created and forced to obey; brainwashed into working for the corrupt Itex goal. It was tearing me apart. Then I was literally torn apart; the force of the heat weakened and cracked the ceiling of ice. Some of the cracks broke apart and fell upon me before I could save myself. The shards cut into my back, my wings, arms, some lodged themselves in my shoes and feet. With one last resounding crack, a large chunk fell and hit me in the head, knocking me into oblivion.

A sharp pain erupted in my thigh seconds before my consciousness came to being. I screamed in agony, writhing, trying to kick out against the restraints upon me. Not another experiment! I struggled; I almost gave my captors frostbite from the inside out until Angel's voice finally forced my eyes open.

_Saph, stop! They're fixing your leg! It's only Max and Fang and Iggy! Don't hit Dr. M! _I nodded at her. I cracked an eye open and gasped at the brightness of the lights. I grunted as Dr. Martinez dug into my thigh for the bullet that was lodged in there. Through the haze of agony, I managed to grind out, "Where is Blaze?" When no one answered, I repeated more frantically, "Where is my Blaze?!"

Max and Fang looked at each other having some unspoken conversation that I wasn't about to intrude upon. Both sets of eyes lay upon me sympathetically. Dr. M's frown deepened. Iggy wouldn't turn his head towards me. Oh god. Blaze. My poor Blaze. Please, please, don't be gone. I just got you . . .

The emotional pain won out over the physical and my leg was forgotten. I closed my eyes as expectations of the worst clouded my mind.

Max spoke quietly. "Saph, he isn't dead, but . . . he isn't good, either." He was still alive? Oh sweet mother god, he's still alive!

"How bad is he?" I could honestly care less about my leg at this point. I was pretty light headed, though. What was with all the blood on the table . . .? OH. . . that was my blood. No wonder, I was light headed. Ignoring the blood, the raking of the forceps in my thigh, and the slight dizziness and nausea, I focused on Max. She returned my gaze with a hard one of her own. My relief of his living started to fade. "Max… How bad is he?"

Dr. Martinez, at the moment announced that she had gotten the bullet out. The older woman looked at me with sympathy in her eyes. "He has both legs fractured, a shattered collarbone, broken shoulder, and a cracked skull. Other than that, he has a lot of blood loss; he's extremely dehydrated, and has a punctured lung from a couple broken ribs." Dr. M looked at Max. Then she met my eyes. "We aren't sure if he'll make it."

I gasped for breath, curling in on myself. My emotional agony so strong, so forceful, it embodied itself in a large knot in my chest. I didn't sob, but I cried. It was hard to breathe, and I knew, in the back of my mind, I had to get a grip. Somehow I did. Only God knows how, but I managed.

"Let me see him." The four people around me looked – or in Iggy's case, tried to look – at each other.

"Saph," Fang began, "We don't know if that's such a good idea. . ."

I glared at each of them in turn. "You forgot I can control water, didn't you? The same things I can do in the air, I can transfer into tissue. With some concentration, I can convince fluids to push bones back into place to settle, or push platelets to close wounds. . . Look, if there's one thing I can do that you can't, it's this. Just. . . let me do this for him. I have to try."

Dr. Martinez let out her breath in a _whoosh_. She bit her lip, and nodded. "Alright. We'll take you to him." She nodded at Fang, and he helped me down off the table. He and Max helped me down the hall. It didn't take all that long. The entire time I fought to ignore the pain in my newly bandaged leg. The door at the end seemed to me, the light at the end of the tunnel; either I'd wind up in heaven, hell, or some god-awful purgatory; sentenced there until I can either redeem myself for past crimes, or waste away for all eternity. I was wishing dearly for the first.

Dr. Martinez looked at me carefully, leaning on the door. She seemed to be debating something. She warned, "Sapphire, the way he looks will come as a shock to you. We did warn you before that he was in bad shape, but. . . he looks just as bad or worse than he is. Try to stay calm, dear. Remember the twins, yes?"

I nodded. "Of course. Now, please, Dr. M, just open the door. I need to see him."

Dr. M opened the door wide, allowing me entrance. Blaze and Max helped me inside. My eyes were glued to the floor as I walked, not wanting to look up until I was seated by his bedside. There was a whistling sound coming from him with every breath. When I finally looked at his face, I struggled for breath, my hand flying to my mouth.

Oh my poor Blaze! Why didn't I stop you? Blaze, oh god, I'm sorry!

I could think nothing but apologies, and the memory of that day haunted long after that first meeting.


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N: Hello beloved readers! I am, so, unbelievably sorry that I am such a terrible updater. However, I decided that this had to be my first priority, so I finished the seventh chapter for you all! (Again, I know, I'm a bad author, please, feel free to chastise, however do read and review). I enjoy reviews to no end, so please, continue to review, my dears! And don't forget about the poll on the baby names! Enjoy!_

* * *

Chapter 7-

Blaze was almost unrecognizable. His hair and wings were singed, though not completely incinerated. He had burns of varying degrees all over his skin. There were cuts, bruises, and stitched gashes galore. Both of Blaze's legs and both arms had casts covering them. His neck had a brace, and a bandage was wrapped about his head. He looked smaller, grayer, and more vulnerable now. His chest was bare and his bottom half was covered by shorts and the sheets. I swear I could feel my heart ripping at the seams.

I set about to work right away. If I allowed myself to cry, I'd never be able to stay on task. I worked on keeping him hydrated, forcing fluid back into his body's tissues. I'd picked up the knack for healing after experiments when one of us would come back bloody and in pain. I worked my hardest into the long hours of the night. There wasn't one technique in my book of treatments that I didn't use. When I was done he looked far better than when I first came in. He had some color in his cheeks, and some of his cuts, bruises and breaks were mending better than I could have hoped.

I woke up the next morning, leaned over Blaze's bed with a crick in my neck, and a sore back. My thumb absently rubbed circles on my swollen belly. My left hand, however, checked Blaze's pulse, his temperature. I was distressed to find he had a fever. Even for his fire elemental bird kid regular temperature, he was too hot. I cooled my hand down and placed it on his forehead, the other on his collarbone, as close to his neck as I could get.

It was hard; I was exhausted, living for three, and now putting more strain on myself to force Blaze's body to cool down. It was always a delicate process; the body reacts to infection and bacteria, and to get rid of said bacteria, it heats itself, hence the fever. However, in this case, it didn't have to work so hard, and I could do it for him – but just barely. That and the fact that his brain would boil if his body kept it up made it hard and quite important to keep his body temperature down.

Normally, it isn't that hard to convince fluids and hardened liquids to bend to my will. Granted, the fluids that congealed are a bit harder, since they hate having to change into a liquid from a crust or goo (ew, I know), but the listen after some convincing. The worst think about all this, though, was that it's hard to fight against the immune and nervous systems. They don't like to listen to me; apparently I sound too much like fluid.

"Dr. Martinez!" No one came. I tried again, yelling a bit louder, "Dr. Martinez! Max! Someone get me some ice!" Fang came in. His eyes were questioning me.

"What's wrong?" His voice was quiet, but it wasn't hard to hear him. His voice tended to carry.

I nodded at Blaze. "His temp is starting to spike. I'm trying to get his body to cool down, but I'm fighting his damned nervous system, and it doesn't want to listen. His immune system, too. They both want to heat up to freakin' boil to get rid of the infectious microbes in his system, except he won't survive what it has in store for him." I looked up at Fang. "I need ice. Lots of ice. If you have any bags of it, go for it, otherwise I'll need liquid and I'll _make_ it ice."

A quick head bob then Fang was gone. Some murmuring followed between him, Max, and Dr. M. He filled them in on what I needed and they came back not long after wards.

"Come on, Blaze. Baby, don't quit on me, now," I whispered. I placed my hands on either side of his head and sent a chill directly to his brain. His body temperature control was there; if that shock didn't do anything, then flay me alive and call me an eraser, because damn it, it had to work. I directed where I wanted the ice and bags of water that I froze to Max, Fang, and Dr. M.

Suddenly Blaze went ramrod straight and screamed bloody murder. He convulsed a few moments. I went to hold him and Dr. Martinez stopped me. "Sapphire, if you go over there, he may kill the twins if he hits you in the stomach while convulsing." My eyes widened. The need to go over and try and calm Blaze and my need keep my twins safe warred within me. I finally came up with something.

"Max, Fang, hold him down. Be careful, though, there's no telling how hot his skin will be." Max grabbed an arm and cursed, holding her hand.

"Saph, it's no good. We can't touch him, he's too hot. It's like he's –"

"Being flame-broiled from the inside out?" Fang supplied.

I turned one of the bags of ice to water, and sent four sections to each of Blaze's limbs, freezing them to the bed. As soon as the ice made contact with his feverish skin, it sizzled and began to evaporate into steam. Blaze's screaming tore through me like a long sword through the heart. As soon as Blaze was restrained, I grabbed Blaze's face and forced more cold into it. I was starting to get exhausted, I was running on adrenaline and maybe four hours sleep. I was either lucky that I hadn't dropped dead yet, or just crafty in how I did things. I was leaning toward the former.

Blaze's screams died down until they were groans and whimpers, his breathing labored. I shushed and cooed, hoping he heard me and that I was making a difference. I didn't understand what was happening. I knew that when Blaze was sick, his body temperature shot up until the only way I could touch him was if I forced cold into his body before contact. He was about there now, but he was doing so much better. Dr. M helped me give him some antibiotics and put on fresh bandages. After a while I finally fell asleep again and tried to rest. I only had a nightmare of Blaze dying. It wasn't pleasant to say the least.

* * *

I woke up with a warm hand petting my hair. I looked up and found Blaze looking at me warmly. I took hold of his hand and kissed his palm. He indicated for me to sit on the bed with him. I obeyed. I was in no way ready to separate myself from him. In fact, I had almost flung myself at him when I realized he was awake and (mostly) okay.

I sat behind him and laid his head in my lap and played with his hair. Blaze cracked open his lips and rasped, "Morning, sunshine. How are you? Okay? The tw–" he stopped and started violently coughing. I grabbed a towel, pushed him more on his side, and held it to his lips as his blood speckled the sanitary white of the cloth.

My poor Blaze, I thought as I ran my fingers through his hair. When he was done, and I had him settled, I said quietly, "You think; I'll talk, okay?" He nodded a little. "Good. I'm okay. A little battered, but in one piece. The twins are okay. How are you feeling, sweets?"

"_Is 'like shit' and okay answer, Saph?" _he thought at me.

I nodded. "Yeah, hon, it's perfectly acceptable. You looked worse, though, before I had my way with you."

Blaze reached for my hand and I met him three-quarters of the way there. Fingers twined, it felt like it always had: scary, yet so, so right._ "I thought I felt cold,"_ he thought. His red eyes searched mine.

I stared right back, my eyes softening. Tears welled in my eyes. I closed them and fought to keep from crying, but it was a useless fight. "I thought I was going to lose you, Blaze. Don't do that to me. I'm begging you; don't do that to me ever again. I may not survive it if I can't save you." I grasped his face in my hands, my emotions making them feel like dry ice to Blaze. "Do you hear me? Don't do some stupid ass stunt like that!"

Blaze grunted. "_Saph. . . Sapphire, I won't, I promise. Could you ease up on the freezer burn, though? Jeez. We're opposing elements, remember? We either balance or kill each other. Now, ease up. It's okay. I'm okay. Hmm?_"

I gasped, appalled that I'd hurt him. He just almost died, and I'm yelling at him for almost dying to save me. What the hell kind of person am I!? I pulled all the ice out of my hands and tried to warm them a bit to thaw out his cheeks. "I can't do anything right, can I?" I wondered aloud.

"_Of course you can. You just worry too much. Like right now. Stop it. I can feel your anxiety, Saph. Stop, you might hurt the little monsters we're going to call our kids." _

I sighed and we talked. Well, I talked, he thought to me. Anyway, I checked his cuts and such every now and again to make sure all was well. It was, though the episode with the fever had left me shaken. What if he'd somehow gotten some kind of deadly bacteria into his system because of that stunt he pulled? Just as my anxiety was about the hit the roof, shatter it, and break the sound barrier, Blaze stopped me with a gaze and a squeeze to my hand.

Angel came in around twelve with some food and she looked between Blaze and I with an anxious look in her eyes. She looked at me. "Um. . . Saph?"

"Hmm?"

"Can I. . . can I ask you something?" she stuttered. I patted the chair in front of Blaze and I with my foot.

"Of course, Angel. What is it?"

She fiddled with her shirt hem, staring at it like it was the most interesting thing ever to grace the planet. "Saph. . . Are you going to leave, still?" Angel looked at me with teary eyes.

The words caught in my throat. The truth was that I wanted to but I was too much of a coward, and I didn't think I'd be to stay away more than a month and a half, maybe two. It hadn't taken long for the twins to hit some kind of growth spurt. No idea what that means (except that the scientists that did this to me are going to be pissed that they can't collect data on the gestation period of a genetically altered avian-human hybrid). And the birth. Not that I'm very much looking forward to that. Ick. Live birth. Not eggs (thank god. That would be awkward on _so_ many levels if I laid giant eggs and then my avian-human kids actually _hatched_ instead of just being born). However, I've been reading up on this birth thing, and _damn_, it sounds painful. Would I have wanted a bunch of people peering in at me that I wanted to kill with a burning passion that out shined the sun? Hell no.

Leaving the Institute had been the smartest thing I've ever done. It wouldn't be too long before I had the twins, then I could get Blaze and scram, running around the continent, maybe the world, until we were either caught, captured, or killed. I couldn't keep putting the Flock in danger because they tried to help us, but I'd keep in touch after we left. If after a few months, they were still having trouble with erasers, I'd come back. If not, then Blaze, the twins and I would stay gone.

That didn't give me an answer to Angel's question, but she heard my thoughts loud and clear. She jumped out of the chair and hugged me. "No! Saph, please don't leave! Please, please, don't leave! We love you and Blaze. Saph . . . We want to help. I've never seen a bird-kid baby before. . . And what will you do without money or food or clothes? Or diapers!?" She was crying, her tears soaking into my shirt. I looked at Blaze sheepishly. I didn't have to look at his face to know he'd chew me out for making plans without asking him about it first, later. Crap.

I patted Angel awkwardly on the head, "Angel, honey, calm down, kid. I don't want Nudge to hear--" Nudge burst into the room, squawking up a storm.

"What do you mean, you're leaving?! Oh my god, Saph, you can't do that! You're going to have two babies and Blaze is still hurt! Holy cow! Blaze you're awake!" She rambled on a bit more but I was too focused on one thing when Iggy came in, too. Great. It was just one big torture chamber now, wasn't it? Stupid confined space.

Then, luck of all lucks, the last three, sorry, five members of this odd family walked in. Everyone caught onto what was going on. The all added their protests to the equation. Minus Fang. He just kind of glared and spoke maybe four, five words tops. I rubbed my temples and Blaze glared at me. _"Now look what you've done, Sapphire. I swear to god, you keep thinking crap like that and I'll flay you alive."_

"_I'd love to see you try, Fire-boy. Just remember: fire can't touch polar ice caps. One of which, I happen to be,"_ I mentally answered him. However, all the babbling and commotion was giving me a headache. I brought a bag of water to almost freezing and then splashed bits of it on the backs of everyone's necks. "For the love of _all_ that is _good_ and _wholesome_, would you _stop_ yelling at me?" Instantly they quieted down. Thank god the cacophony had ceased. I think my ears were about to start bleeding.

Dr. M didn't look pleased about the water that had hit her neck. She spoke. "Sapphire, would you please explain to us why you insist on trying to leave. You're safer here than on your own. You know that."

"Yes. I also have thought this through. I've decided that yes, I'll stay until the twins are born and stable and Blaze is back up around and totally functional. However, after words I wanted to leave," I rushed to finish before I could be interrupted. "We'll still keep in touch, but if after two months you're still being attacked by erasers or flyboys, we'll come back. If not, they're somehow tracking Blaze and I and so we'll stay away from here. Okay?"

Max stared hard at me. "You aren't leaving. None of you are. Look, I know we don't have much space but we'll figure it out. You're part of this, now. Sure, we don't know you as well, but you obviously need help, you've got wings, and hey! So do we."

The rest of the Flock voiced their agreement. Fang, however acknowledge the valid points in what I said. "Saph has a point, though, guys. We haven't been attacked for almost a year before they got here. They are targets; but that doesn't mean you can go of on your own for two months and not worry about running into trouble."

Blaze watched all this intently, eyes flicking between people and myself. His grip on my hand, which was weaker than I'd like, tightened.

Ella (who had walked in with Dr. M, Total, Fang, Max, and the Gasman), asked, "But where will you go if you leave?" A pain started below where the twins sat in my abdomen. I ignored it and thought about how to answer Max's biological half-sister.

Just as I was about to answer, another twang erupted in my abdomen only more insistent, this time. I winced and tried to answer as best I could. "I hadn't really figured that part out yet, but I was thinking someplace either obnoxiously crowded, so finding us will be like trying to find a needle in a haystack, or being in a place so remote they have to bring in planes and choppers because cars and trucks just won't cut it." The twinge of pain came back again, only a bit quicker than last time, and far more painful. I grunted, and tried to stretch a bit and maybe help relieve some muscle spasm.

Dr. Martinez was watching me closely. " Saph, what's happening? Are you feeling any discomfort?"

"Yes, actually. Right below the twins it," I was cut off, as another wave of pain shocked my system. Then, in probably the worst timing in the history of the universe, I realized the twins wanted out; my jeans suddenly felt very wet, and it obviously wasn't that time of the month. "Oh no. Not now. . ., " I whispered. My hair hung in front of my face so only Blaze, still lying with his head in my lap, say my eyes widen. I pushed one thought toward his mind: _"Are you ready to be a daddy, Blaze? Because ready or not, here they come. . . "_


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 –

Five minutes later I found myself on a different bed in another disgustingly white and sterile room. The pain had increased to about twenty times what it had been before. Not only that but the time between the said bouts of pain had decreased, and oh, sweet Jesus, were those small bits of time precious to me.

Dr. M had had me strip down alone and put on a gown while she, Fang, and Max went for towels and water. Unfortunately, the only child birthing Dr. Martinez knew about was the little bit she remembered from having Ella, and various types of animals. I wasn't a dog, (though I can be a bitch), nor a cat, so it wouldn't exactly be easy going. That, and Dr. M didn't exactly think a normal doctor that specialized in this kind of think could deal with what they'd find when the kids finally emerged. (Imagine this: "Okay, hold on, here's the first one! . . . OH MY GOD!! This kid has wings!! What the hell is going on here!?" Yeah. Not exactly the kind of thing anyone wants to deal with regardless of the media attention the Flock received last year.)

Now, I found myself on a bed, clutching Blaze's hand as he sat in a relatively high and cushy chair. I wasn't totally sure; however I think I'd heard his fingers at least pop. Did my Blaze complain? Hell no! Was I proud? You can bet your ass! Did I hate the Institute, yet again, for putting me through this physical hell? Oh, yes. Would they pay? Someway, somehow, they would.

My thoughts of revenge and payback for all of this were the only two things that kept me from screaming bloody murder. Whatever people have told you about birth being a miracle? They are liars either with hazy memories diluted from pain killers or didn't have to experience the intense pain. I can completely sympathize with any woman who threatens to castrate her husband or boy friend (who ever the father is) during labor. I almost threatened Blaze. If he hadn't been around I wouldn't be in this mess! However, I did have enough sense to withhold that thought. But just barely enough.

Through an obnoxious amount of grunting and groaning (all coming from me), I heard Dr. M coaching me on things I should or shouldn't do. After I almost sent an ice spike through Iggy's eye for a wise crack of his, the rest of the Flock left leaving the eldest of us (minus Iggy). I couldn't stand being looked at like test subject while Nudge, Angel, and Ella cooed about the babies and Gazzy and Iggy made cracks over how blue Blaze's fingers were getting.

I bit my lip until it bled. It had been seven. Whole. Hours. And nothing was really happening. I mean, sure, there was maybe thirty seconds of peace for every minute or five of agony instead of a few minutes. Sometimes I'd almost pass out and water would be splashed on me. I wasn't allowed to sleep; since we knew next to nothing on what we should or shouldn't do, we were winging it (pun intended), and so just in case, no sleep so I wouldn't mistakenly die.

Another bout of screaming, cursing, and wishing these little rugrats would get their little winged-asses out of me and I could get some sleep for perhaps the first time in months. Finally, something happened.

Fang. Got. Sick.

"Fang, are you okay?" Max asked, her voice laced with concern. I shook my head to get my bangs out of my face. If I had had heat vision I think I may have burned a hole in that pair, I concentrated on them that hard. I peaked in on his thoughts and burst out laughing.

"That's what you get for being a perv!" I ground my teeth at another round of pain. Blaze watched me with worry in his eyes mixed with annoyance. His eyes flicked between Fang and I. I reached out and played with a red streaked lock of his hair. "You don't have to kill him, sweets, it was an accident," I whispered to Blaze.

Max looked incredulously at Fang. She smacked him and ushered him from the room cursing all the way while he gagged. Dr. M shook her head and looked up at the ceiling. "Teenagers." She called out the door, "Maximum Ride, you watch that mouth of yours, young lady!" Max's grunted call of acknowledgement drifted through the door along with the sounds of metal clanging, and a masculine yelp.

I didn't have long to snicker at their bickering and Max's obvious control. I screamed as a fresh wave of agony spread through me more fiercely than the last one. Blaze and Dr. Martinez's focuses came back to me. Dr. M looked at me and bit her lip before she looked at the book beside her. The older woman looked back at me and said, "Okay, Sapphire. You have to push now. I'm going to count to ten and you have to push as hard as you can until we get to ten, okay?"

I nodded, shakily. Dr. M told me to take a deep breath and then she started counting. I think my kids definitely have my fighting spirit, because let me tell you, they fought me every inch by freaking inch of the way. God forbid they make it easier of their mother, oh no. We can't have an easy birth, now can we?

Blaze whispered encouragement in my ear while he smoothed my hair away from my face. Dr. Martinez did the same, but I only heard Blaze as he counted with Dr. M. As soon as I heard ten I stopped and gasped for breath. Oh good god, was this painful! There was no reprieve only a lesser amount of pain that throbbed in time with my pulse, making my whole body shake. A string of profanities flew through my lips. Both Blaze and Dr. M ignored me. Max came in during the next round of pushing.

Max looked indignant. She asked loudly, "Hey! Why is Saph allowed to curse like that and I can't?" I glared at her and locked my jaw for a moment before I exploded at her.

"Because you aren't in fucking labor that's why!" I punctuated that with a scream. Max seemed a bit meek after that. As she should be! Damn it, this shit isn't easy! Ugh. I pity any woman who goes through this multiple times.

Dr. M interrupted calmly, "All right, Saph, one more time, and I think this one will be out." I bobbed my head, steeling myself and breathing in deeply. The count began, yet again. Around six or seven I felt a degree of relief and a couple seconds later, a baby crying. "Max hand me a couple towels." The older woman's eyes found mine. "It's a girl." I smiled through my own tears and sniffed.

I glanced at Blaze. He looked simply dumbstruck. I peaked in on his thoughts. "_I can't believe I'm a father. Holy shit . . . I'm a father . . . I have a kid! And . . . And she came from Saph_." Blaze's ruby tinged hazel eyes found mine. "We have a daughter," he murmured. I nodded, and was shocked as Max handed me a little screeching bundle of blankets.

A wide grin split Max's face. "Congrats, guys. Hope she doesn't cause too much trouble." She moved away back toward her mom who seemed to be cleaning things up a bit. I was about to thank Max when another wave of torture washed from my hips through the rest of my body. My head fell back as I trembled with the throbbing.

Dr. M informed me in a sympathetic voice, "Well, Saph, you have to get ready to push again. I'm sorry, but you _do_ have twins to deliver."

Well, hell. That just ruined my good mood.

Another four rounds full of cursing, fiery tsunamis of pain, and possibly a couple broken fingers for Blaze while he held our little girl, and our second (and in all likelihood, final) child was born. Our sun was alive and well and screamed like a banshee until Max handed him to me. Almost instantaneously, he quieted down to just meaningless baby babble. I leaned him against my shoulder so I could look at his wings. They were the cutest little pinions to ever grace the earth, I swear it!

Tiredly, I murmured to my little boy, "Yeah, you know who suffered to give you life, don't you? Just remember, give me trouble like that again, and I'll wring your little neck, got it?" He whined at me. "Okay, so maybe I'd just give you a good talking to, but the point still stands, mister."

The Flock (including Fang, though he was still getting glares from Max.), Ella, and Dr. M were gathered around. Angel spoke up. "So what are you going to name them?" Oh goodness. I looked at Blaze.

"We aren't sure just yet . . . Give us a minute, okay, guys?" Blaze nodded at the door to emphasize he request. He saw Nudge opening her mouth to protest and Blaze sighed, "No, Nudge. We don't need help. They're _our_ kids, remember? I think we can handle it."

Once they were out of the room, Blaze and I looked at our twins. The little girl had dark hair with bits of white, like the air elemental that had died. Blaze laughed and wiggled his finger in front of her face she grabbed at it. I did the same for our son and he didn't do anything. His eyes were open, he was functioning fine, but he wasn't doing anything. I put my finger in his tiny hand and he latched on. I frowned.

"Blaze . . . I think our son is blind." Sadness engulfed me. My poor baby couldn't see. This could end up being problematic. Very problematic.

But looking at him, he was obviously an earth elemental. He had the most gorgeous bright green eyes, like the way a leaf looks when the sun hits it. His dark baby hair was streaked with a deep green through the dark brown. His sister looked a little different from him, so they weren't identical. Oh well. I like individuality anyway. Our daughter had very light grey eyes with a ring of stormy, metallic grey.

"Aiden," I murmured, and my son seemed to perk up a bit in my arms. That was definitely a good name for him. I looked slyly at Blaze.

"You know," Blaze began, "He may be blind, but he seems easier to please than his sister. And I think she looks like an Andromeda . . ." At my puzzled look, he explained, "You know, because the white bits in her hair are like stars in a sky, and Andromeda is the name of a galaxy."

I grinned in appreciation. "That's really clever, sweetie. I'm proud of you." I leaned toward him and gave him a peck on the lips.

He laughed, "Yeah, I thought you would be." My beloved fire elemental looked down at our little girl. "Andromeda . . . Andy . . . Hey, there, cutie," he murmured, "Mm-hmm, I thought you'd like that name."

Blaze must have felt their anxiousness at finding out the names, because all of a sudden he called out, "Guys, you can stop trying to listen through the wall. We picked out what we're naming them."

The door flew open, and the Flock barged in and crowded around. A cacophony of voices rose, all asking questions at once. I scrunched my eyes shut as a headache began to build from the volume of their voices and thoughts. It all pressed in on my already exhausted mind. Max, always floating between regular (granted, this word is used loosely) teenager, and mom, sensed the distress and quieted the Flock down.

"Well," Ella said, "What's their names? We've been dying to know for weeks!" A sea of agreement followed.

Blaze answered for me, since I was fighting the pain in my temples. "Aiden and Andromeda. Aiden is an earth elemental, and Andromeda is air. Andy, for short."

The rest of the hour was spent with everyone gushing over my kids. Then Fang noticed something.

"Hey, why isn't Aiden looking around? He's just staring," Fang pointed out. "See, Andy plays with people, and Aiden doesn't do anything until you touch him. . ."

I bit my lip and looked away. Tears leaked from my eyes. I answered him quietly, "That's because my baby was born blind, Fang. He can't see." The room became really quiet all of a sudden. Max and Ella immediately voiced their sympathy; the rest of the people in the room just gave us sympathetic gazes.

Iggy came up to the bed and felt around. I picked up his hand and brought it up to Aiden's face. My son burbled and squirmed. Iggy looked up–or tried to, anyway—at my face. He nodded sadly. "When he gets a little older, I'll help him figure out how to get around, Saph."

I laughed and nodded gratefully. "Thank you, Iggy. Thank you, so much . . . All of you. Really. I don't know what would have happened if you all hadn't taken us in." Dr. M smiled kindly. Everyone else concurred.

When both Aiden and then Andy started crying a bit, Blaze and I looked worriedly between ourselves. What did they want? I didn't think there was really anything we were doing wrong.

Blaze cleared his throat, "Uh . . . Dr. M? Do you know what's wrong with them?"

She nodded and swallowed the animal cracker she was eating. "Of course. They 're probably hungry. They've been out in the world for about two and a half. I'm sure they want something to eat."

Granted, I didn't know much about babies, but I knew one thing: they didn't eat whole food yet. And since we weren't sure what kind of nutrients avian-human hybrids would need as infants . . . that left one option. I groaned. Oh God, this wasn't cool.

Dr Martinez put another animal cracker in her mouth, "Okay, everyone out! Out, out, out! Go!" Everyone left, leaving her, Blaze, myself, and the twins. I really didn't want to do this, but it was necessary which was why I was going to listen very carefully to what Dr. M told me. "Okay, so . . . Are you ready for your first breast feeding, Saph?"


	9. Chapter 9

_To my dear readers!_

_Thank you for the reviews on the last chapter! They've been very encouraging, and I'm absolutely ecstatic that you all think so highly of my writing. I apologize for the wait, yes, I realize I am horrible when it comes to updates, but, like I mentioned in my profile, I have been working on a couple fics. Do be patient with me, I am only one person. This chapter starts out as fluff. I realize, that some of the facts may end up being incorrect after Fang comes out, but, perhaps, I'll edit the older chapters to make everything fit. However I'd love to make a big thanks to some of my faithful reviewers of my past chapters:_

_MaxFangIggyNudgeGazzyAngel, Silver Tonged Wonder, Rainbow. Wings, StarskyluvsFang14, and HowlingWolfBlackWings. _

_Thank you all so much. Remember! Jane loves Reviews! They are pleasant and amazing and are an amazing motivator! Now enough of my blathering!_

_Read on and enjoy!  
_

* * *

Chapter 9 –

After the excursion with breast feeding (which is a literal pain by the way, I'll spare the details but OW), I looked over at Blaze, totally tired and ready to pass out when I realized something. Blaze had almost died. I'd barely kept him going through the night . . . and then that horrible screaming and flailing flashed back to my mind. I looked sharply at Aiden and Andromeda's father. "Go to bed."

He blinked. "What?"

I sighed, exasperated. "Go. To. Bed," I reiterated. He started to protest ("But what about the twins? Saph you just gave _birth_!" Psh. So? He thinks I'll let an entire day of labor and pain get in the way of ordering him around? _Ha!_), and I waved his arguments away with my hand. "No! You need to get some rest. Now, go!"

Blaze laughed. At. Me. Actually, not just at me: he damn near laughed in my face. "Yeah. Sure. Like I can move on my own. You know, Saph, I love your enthusiasm, but your attention to detail is seriously lacking." He indicated his broken legs. And then I realized that his arms must have healed because the casts were mysteriously gone . . . Hmm.

My eyes narrowed in suspicion. I was pretty sure I looked like a mess. I was sore in places I didn't know I could be sore in. And now I was getting lip from Blaze and I was pretty sure he had bribed either the Gasman or Fang to get his casts off his arms . . . Oh, he was _so_ dead.

He read me, and before I could say anything, "Yes, okay, okay! I did get the casts taken off. _Only_ because I wanted to be able to hold the twins, too, alright? Don't get all hyped up, Sapphire. F.Y.I., you aren't the only one who loves Aiden and Andromeda." I opened my mouth and he pressed a (distracting) finger on my lips shushing my protests. "It's too late to call anyone in, and I can't make it to the other room. Help me up on to the bed, and I'll go to sleep, deal?"

Reluctantly, I agreed, and set the twins down carefully on the end of my bed. It was long and tedious, but we finally got Blaze up onto the mattress. He laid himself tiredly on his stomach beside me. He groaned a bit and tried to shift himself. I cringed when Blaze whimpered and shuffled around a little more trying to get comfortable. I commanded the liquid in his tissues to slowly unknot his muscles and move around on their normal courses a bit more to help the healing. He visibly relaxed before my eyes as he turned his head to be able to breathe and look up at my face. Five seconds later Aiden started making anxious little cries, clenching his tiny hands. Andromeda lay sound asleep as her brother's cries became a little louder with each passing moment. I frowned.

Though I felt a bit cruel, I had to know what was wrong. I picked up Andromeda first, and laid her next to her father. Next, I tentatively put my hand on Aiden's back. He quieted down almost immediately. I took my hand away and he squirmed, his own whimpers insistent. I picked him up and cradled him against my chest and he calmed down. Things began to click into place in my head. My poor little Aiden had to have contact with someone familiar to him or else he got scared. His sister had the lovely gift of sight, but he didn't have that luxury. He must need to feel safe before he can sleep. My boy . . . my poor tiny boy . . .

A hot tear escaped my eye and ran down my face. I'd never be able to leave him alone. I would never want to.

Blaze's hot hand closed on my arm. He murmured while I stroked a tuft of dark hair on Aiden's head, "It'll be okay. He's our kid, remember? Aiden will be fine. He'll be a fighter just like we are." I nodded, pressing my lips together to hide their trembling. Sadly, he was an empath, and that did absolutely nothing in the way of hiding from him. He pulled me carefully down, and held me close, Andromeda and Aiden between us. He warmed up his hands to send heat shooting through my chilled nerve endings. Blaze pressed his lips to my forehead. We were both scared. Actually, "scared" didn't even begin to cover it. Perhaps "terrified near the point of insanity" might be a better—though wordier—term. Both of us knew that we would just have to (excuse the horrible pun) wing it. We'd make it through, or die trying. Iggy was in the same boat as Aiden, and he made it okay. Maybe Aiden's elemental abilities would help him. Blaze and I could only hope that was, or would be, true.

Only time would tell. . . Stupid time! Move quicker!

* * *

Another sleepless night, another crying bird-baby, another reason to loathe the Facility. The twins were four months old and more curious than Blaze and I needed them to be. Anything they could get their little hands on became a new chew toy. It was driving me insane. Especially since there was only one way to feed them, and truth be told? It hurt like hell, and damn it, they needed to stop gnawing on Mommy! One day, they would give me grief, and when they did, I was breaking out the "I gave birth to you" card! Max and Dr. M helped out a lot, but it was the lack of sleep that was getting to me. On the plus side, Blaze was letting me fly around again! (Score!) Usually, my excuse was that Aiden was getting cranky, so I needed to take him for a little air time. Luckily, that was an acceptable excuse. On another note, just as I had thought in the beginning, our little Andy was a total Daddy's girl. Sure, she had affection for her dear mumsie, but who did she want more? Daddy. Did I get a little jealous that my daughter got to be held by my Blaze more than I did? Only a tiny bit. The rest of me was beating that part up whilst being totally girly and squealing at how adorable it was to see my big macho tough guy holding our tiny daughter. The best moments were when she'd wake up and I'd catch her sucking on his thumb while he snored the afternoon away. Now _that_ was funny.

And speaking of sleep . . . it was very touch and go. Andromeda behaved more like a "normal" baby (though her habits didn't seem all human; stupid bird DNA) and she cried when she wanted something, or got hurt, lonely, whatever. Aiden cried when he couldn't feel his sister, me, or Blaze. If Andy moved during the night enough that Aiden didn't touch her, he'd start crying hysterically. And then the loud noise would wake Andy up. It was why Blaze and I had now been moved into the loft room. Everyone else got to sleep; we did not. I had only kept Aiden with Andromeda in their crib until I decided that that wasn't going to work out. Dr. M happened to help me out with solving this dilemma.

Now, I wore a little sling type of thing that went over my shoulder and came across my back under my wings. We just put Aiden in the sling on top of my back. He didn't feel alone, I got a little more sleep, and so did Blaze. Everyone was happy . . . That was until two weeks ago when little Andromeda decided that she didn't like to wake up without Aiden. So now she slept on top of Blaze's back like Aiden did on mine. This is how it worked out. Sadly, that didn't stop Andy or Aiden deciding they were hungry at three in the morning, but hey, sleep is sleep, right?

Blaze had healed up nicely and was almost a hundred percent. He tended to limp if it was a little damper outside, but what can you do? He wasn't totally healed yet. He'd be totally fine with a couple more weeks of recoup under his belt, though. I was exceedingly happy about that.

I woke up one morning to a little hand tugging at my hair. I reached back and found a little thigh at the juncture of where my shoulder blades met my wings. I chuckled and followed it to discover that he was sitting up. Aiden grabbed my hand in both of his. I pushed him towards my head, gently, with my wings to get him within easy reach of my arms. Once in my grip, I pulled Aiden off my back and sat him on my pillow. He frowned when my hands disappeared from his torso and didn't return. Instead, he patted the pillow case next to him and kicked his legs a bit, smiled and then tumbled toward me. How had he done that? I hadn't been touching the pillow, so my weight couldn't have been indicator. He babbled happily and continued where he left off with my hair. Oh, the things I had to learn about this kid.

I sat up and pulled Aiden into my lap, steeling myself for when Andy would inevitably wake up hungry—that girl, without fail, always woke up starving. It was the only thing I disliked about my Andy. I glanced at Blaze and laughed. His face was stuck flat on the pillow and he was snoring. When I poked his cheek, he sniffed, wiped at it, and moved his head revealing a rather large spot of drool on the pillowcase. My and Aiden's laughter seemed to shake the bed enough that Blaze woke up with a start.

He raked a tired hand through his red-streaked hair and mumbled sleepily, "Wha's happ'nin'? Is the house on fire?" He blinked up at me. I snorted (yeah, yeah, yeah, it's unladylike; so what?) and brushed hair away from his eyes.

Aiden laughed happily at the sound of Blaze's voice. He pumped his little fists up and down with a big smile on his face; meanwhile I retorted, "No, and even if it was, you wouldn't have known, my dear."

"Hardy har har. Did you need something?"

"Only to stop your drooling and snoring. Plan on replacing the Colorado with your saliva, Blaze?"

He grumbled in response and plopped his head back on his pillow. He grimaced when his cheek found the area saturated by his spit. Both our eyes widened when we heard a stomach grumble.

"Was that you, Saph," Blaze asked dubiously. I shook my head, totally puzzled. No less than thirty seconds later, Andy woke up crying to be fed. What did I say about my daughter always waking up hungry? Uh huh, to put it simply, my little girl is a piglet.

Later, I was sitting on the roof with Aiden when I heard feet padding on the shingles behind me. They were almost silent. Only one other person in the house did that other than me. I waited until he decided to show himself, rather than let him know that I was aware of his presence. When Fang sank down next to me I looked at him out of the corner of my eye. "Hey there, chatterbox."

He smirked. "How's Aiden," Fang asked quietly.

"Same as he was yesterday: needy, adorable, and happy." We sat in relative silence. The only sounds were the grass and leaves shifting in the breeze and the sound of Aiden babbling to his self around my thumb. Fang seemed to be weighing something. It reminded me of the slight hesitation I'd heard between his opening the window and actually stepping onto the roof. I kept my eyes on Aiden, brushing his green-streaked hair back from his face. Fang would tell me what was bothering him when he was ready. I didn't need to read his thoughts to know that.

"Can I hold him?" I nodded and handed Aiden to Fang, who was extremely careful with Aiden. It wasn't what he had come up to ask me about, but it was a step in the right direction. Hesitantly he asked, "Sapphire, how did Blaze tell you?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Tell me what, Fang?"

He shrugged. One his hands came up in a helpless gesture. Damn, he _was_ nervous. "How did he tell you how he, uh," he paused to swallow, and continued, "You know . . . felt?" The last part was barely more than a whisper.

I smiled impishly. "Finding it a bit difficult to talk about your feelings, Fang?" Fang looked exasperated and started to get up; I stretched my right wing and tapped him. I sobered saying, "Sit back down, macho man. He didn't. He was worried about my panic attacks and what was causing them."

Fang sat back down, a frown creasing his pale forehead. "So what was causing them?"

It was uncomfortable for me to talk about my insecurities, past or otherwise. However, it would help if he knew. "I was deathly afraid that if I told him, if he found out how I felt, he may not have felt the same. Actually, what was more frightening to me was him feeling so vehemently different, that he'd leave and I'd be left to raise the twins on my own, fighting off Erasers, Flyboys, lab lackeys, whatever, totally alone. It had scared the hell out of me to the point that I had those nasty panic attacks. He forced it out of me one night and made it all okay. . . Thinking about baring your heart and soul to Max, chatterbox?"

"How did you—never mind. You read my mind."

I chuckled. "Only metaphorically. I only use that gift when I have to. I don't like to intrude on other people's thoughts, for two reasons. One, it's wrong and I wouldn't want my innermost feelings out in the open for whoever. The second reason, is because it's awkward: some people have very dirty minds, and not just because of their more animalistic urges. They actually have minds tainted by anything from greed to insanity, sadistic pleasure to carnal pleasure."

"What's that like?"

"What? The mind reading," I inquired. Fang nodded in response. I pursed my lips, trying to find words to describe such an odd experience. "It's like submersing half of your mind with that person. You're still you, but you are also them in the moment that you touch their consciousness. You have all their memories, all their thoughts and feelings that occur to them consciously in that given moment. Which, varying from person to person, can be quite a number of things. I used to get horrible headaches from it before I learned how to block my mind."

A little voice said, "Mama?"

"Not now, Aiden. Mama is busy," I said patiently. I began to explain more about the mind reading when I heard that little voice, again.

"Mama?"

All of a sudden it clicked into place. I stopped mid sentence and looked over, wide eyed. "Aiden?"

"Mama?" He giggled and smiled in my direction. He reached out towards me. My son's tiny hands patted the air. Aiden made little impatient sounds until I smiled apologetically and took him back from Fang. The other sixteen-year old bird-kid watched the exchange closely, keeping his lips pressed together.

Fang asked quietly, "Was that his first word?"

I nodded, smiling like an idiot. "Yes, yes it was. Aiden, what do you want, sweetie?"

Aiden's fingers probed the air around my head, finding their way up from my neck to my cheeks. He giggled happily. "Mama!" My grin widened as I took one of his hands into my grip and kissed his fist.

All of a sudden, Max came tear-assing out of the house and spun around to stop and shout up at us urgently, "Get in the car, ASAP! We've got bad news. Iggy and Nudge already have everyone else inside, let's go!"

Fang and I didn't waste any time gliding off the roof to land next to the large Hummer Dr. Martinez kept in case of emergencies. With some of the extra money from CSM, the good doctor had intelligently invested in an armored SUV of the Hummer persuasion. I glanced up at the sky. It was totally darkened on the Western horizon my flying things. Dark, deadly, flying things that weren't human. Shaking off my worry and fear, I handed Aiden to Ella inside the car. I looked around inside the vehicle and frowned.

"Where's Blaze," I asked urgently. Andy was in the back in Nudge's lap, but Blaze was nowhere to be found. Quickly I tried to scan around for his thoughts, but didn't come up with anything. That's when I started to panic.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10-

My gaze snapped to Max. My icy fury made my tone cold, frigid. "Where is Blaze, Max? Why isn't he here?"

Her eyes flew open and she stuck her head in the car. She met my eyes with a curse. "I thought he was in there." I shook my head, not believing what was happening. Blaze was not going to leave me. I would not let that happen. "Angel? Angel, where's Blaze? You told me he was in the car."

The blond girl looked up at Max innocently. "Did I? He flew off, said something about going to buy us some time. Must have slipped my mind." She sniffed indifferently, and my world spun. Damn Blaze and his white knight complex!

I looked at the sky and my felt my heart clench. The eastern edge of the sky was dark with a mass of Flyboys headed for us. I nearly dropped to my knees and cried. Instead, I hastily kissed a confused Aiden on his head. Tears leaked from the corners of my eyes as his tiny hands cast about for my face, and then found it. He babbled a happy, "Mama!" I had to go help Blaze, but I wouldn't do that while Aiden was with me. Too many variables were involved if he came up with me. I could take a beating, my kids couldn't. Ella handed Andy to me and I held both of the twins close, fighting sobs. Ella took Andy back, and I handed my Aiden carefully to Max. I hugged them both and whispered in Max's ear, "Go. As far as you possibly can away. We'll get to you as soon as we're able. But Max. . ."

"What? Saph, don't make me promise anything I can't keep."

"I'm not. I just wanted to thank you for everything. Really. You're a great person. . . If Blaze or I don't make it back, or it takes us awhile. . . Will you take care of the twins for us? Please? You're the only person I trust to kick a lab lackey's ass as well as we do." I smiled blearily, too pained to leave or to stay. I needed to be in two places, but had only one body. I was begging whatever god may exist to have Max say yes.

Max paused, seeming undecided. Finally, she replied determinedly, "Yeah. I can do that, Saph. Just make sure you come back, 'kay? These kids should know their parents and grow up differently from us. That means they need you to be there. Now go save Blaze's hide so we can get the hell out of the state."

I nodded, and without further adieu, I took off and flew towards one of three people I couldn't ever live without.

I cast about with my thoughts for the one familiar wavelength I knew would be here. I was hitting my top speed when I found him and dove for him. He was glowing with heat, gathering enough energy to blast five hundred Fly Guys into oblivion. I screamed his name but he paid me no mind. I tried to get near him, but with my water and ice affinity, the heat was ten times as worse for me than it would be for anyone else. I worked to gather a solid block of ice and once I had one about the size of a fist, I sent it flying towards the one place that would distract his focus: right between his wings.

My icy projectile was sent hurtling towards Blaze, but as it neared him, it became smaller and smaller until it was just water that splattered his back. I couldn't get near him. I couldn't do anything that wouldn't permanently hurt him when he'd just healed; but if I didn't stop him from over using his resources and energy, he'd kill himself. Also note, that when I say that he was too hot, I mean, _he_ was even sweating, and my boy _never_ sweats.

My options were sorely limited. I could attempt to slowly cool his body down, but I had a feeling I didn't have enough time. I would have to fly straight at him and get burned while I tackled him. Hopefully, my body smacking into his along with my screams of agony would give him the hint.

I took a deep breath and tucked my wings in, diving straight towards Blaze. While dropping through the air, I gathered as much icy air around me as I could. With a pained cry, I grabbed him around the middle and we tumbled through the air. We were two angels of differing realms locked in a headlong flight destined to end in fatality or salvation.

At first, my screams were human: I was screaming Blaze's name to get him to stop prepping a Nova. But then the pain became too intense and my screams lost their humanity. My layer of icy air had died down to nothing because my focus was totally lost. I felt my feathers singeing and my hair started to curl. Through my red haze of agony, Blaze seemed, to me, dazed. Our fast descent was helping to keep my hair from burning and my feathers from burning straight from my wings, for which I was grateful. My sight blurred and began to fade in and out of sight and blackness.

Blaze seemed to realize what was going on as I blacked out. He must have righted us and grabbed hold of me because when I opened my eyes, the Flyboys were closing in and I was lying in a cool stream with Blaze frantically wetting my face. He seemed to be saying something and when a Flyboy with a gun touched down behind him, I ignored the fog in my head, focused on the Flyboy, shot up into a sitting position, and shot ice shards at him from the stream at my back. The Fly boy collapsed and Blaze pulled me against his chest.

When Blaze started to order me to go back and get safe, I lashed out. "That's total bullshit! Stop worrying about me, and help me get rid of these things! Hit another one with a gun, grab the gun, and we'll use lead and elements to stop these things," I ordered. He started to order me to leave again, when I broke from the circle of his arms, grabbed the dropped automatic rifle and started firing rounds and ice shards at the same time. I tried to recall exactly what the Flyboys were as I dropped them a few at a time. Blaze finally followed my lead and I asked him if he remembered.

"They're robots, Saph!" he bellowed above the wind and percussion of the machine guns. When my clip ran out, I dropped to my knees and searched the Flyboy for more ammunition. I yelled Blaze a warning as the Flyboys gained distance while our guns were out. We were at the edge of the treeline facing an open, dusty field. I estimated a good hundred and fifty Flyboys left. I thought quickly. If they were robots, they had to have some kind of flammable or explosive liquid in them that allowed them to move without the gears grinding against each other or the joints from wearing out too quickly. . . If I could get the oil to come to the surface, Blaze could send a blast of fire at them and then we wouldn't wear ourselves out or die horribly in the five minutes. The Flyboys would either burn out or explode.

Closing my eyes and focusing my concentration on the liquid in the Flyboys, I ordered the oil and anti-freeze (because it was oil and anti-freeze; I could sense the age in the oil and the toxicity in the anti-freeze) to leave through the pores in the outer layer of the Flyboys. With the barest touch on Blaze's thoughts, I told him my plan. He nodded in my direction and stepped out from behind the tree opposite me. He sent a jet stream of flames directly into the darkening mass of Flyboys closing in above us. My grin grew with his as I saw my plan working perfectly. The explosions moved like a falling line of dominoes as one explosion caused another and another. I motioned to Blaze with my head as they fell and we backed away, running until we were about a mile out before we took to the air.

I laughed, feeling a sense of pride so intense it made me feel high. Blaze hadn't killed himself, I was mostly healed thanks to the water action, and we'd be back with our Aiden and Andy soon. I glided toward Blaze and brushed his wing tip with mine. The red of the feathers pulling my eye from his pinions to his hair and then his ruby-hazel eyes that were watching me. As he opened his mouth to say something, I heard a roar of a helicopter. My elation evaporated as I turned my head to look behind me and saw an armored chopper following us, filled with Erasers. We weren't out of the woods yet. As we both dove for the forest for more cover, twining about each other, one of their guns went off. My left wing exploded with pain and I lost control. I couldn't beat my wings, and I couldn't make my left one move. Memories of the past few months flashed before my eyes as I began to make peace with death: Aiden giggling happily; Andy sleeping on Blaze, both of them knocked out; Blaze with his face smashed into the pillow. I remembered the look in Blaze's eyes as we looked at the twins for the first time and I felt the blood from my wing mingling with my tears while I spun wildly toward the forest.

And then Blaze caught me and we dropped through the canopy. He looked around wildly for cover and leaned me against him while we sat in the hollow next to a large tree. My constant savior pursed his lips and sapped the heat from the wound. The lack of heat would slow the bleeding and allow him to work on me without me dying of blood-loss. I winced against the pain as black spots floated in front of my eyes and everything gained a purplish cast. The next part was the part I hated most. My healing didn't involve much pain; Blaze's did. I "spoke" to liquids to urge muscles to move faster which helps the healing process (better circulation, more platelets to a cut, etc., etc.). Blaze, in stark contrast, had to literally burn veins, muscles, ligaments, and skin together: much like combining a skin graft with stitches.

My pained gasp broke the silence and I squeezed my eyes shut against the fiery pain in my left wing. "Where are the twins?" I think Blaze was trying to distract me, but that isn't easy when you're having your wing slowly burned back into one piece and you have Erasers chasing after you with military grade weaponry and transportation. However, I thought might as well go along with it.

"They're with Max in the armored Hummer. What the hell were you thinking? You nearly killed yourself from the last sunburst you tried," I chastised in a breathlessly pained voice. Hopefully the obvious lack of strength added to my conviction.

Blaze sighed, "I was trying to buy everyone time and leave at least one of us behind for the twins. No one else is going to be able to teach them how to use their elements, Sapphire."

"True, but are we really going to know? Aiden is an earth elemental, and Andromeda's an air elemental; what the hell are we going to know about that, anyway? Half of what we learned was instinctual, the rest we figured out by accident. Max and Fang will do a bang up job if we don't make it back. But we will, so why are we even discussing this? Ow! Ease up, will you?" Blaze shook his head at me.

As the chopper circled the area, Blaze finally finished the muscular grafting, and moved on to the skin binding. He absently remarked, "You know, for all your healing abilities, you are one irritable patient. You're making _me_—of all people—want to kick your ass for your crimes against my sanity." I jerked as he accentuated the "me" with extra burning on the last stretch of skin. I cut a small section of my inner-elbow and held the blood at bay while I took the blood I'd lost, purified it, and sent it back in my vein. I forced more platelets to the area, it scabbed, and within a few moments the purplish cast and black spots left my vision. Carefully, I tried my wing. It worked, but it hurt like hell. Noticing that the chopper was closing in, Blaze jumped to his feet and helped me up. I blinked to make sure I wasn't too dizzy and then we set off running through the woods. The chopper hadn't seen us through the canopy yet, so they were still searching the wrong spot. I glanced at Blaze every few moments; I was still worried about his old injuries. It wasn't that I didn't trust my own healing abilities, but I didn't trust our hollow bones with so little time to recover. All he needed was to step on a rock, hidden by leaf litter, the wrong way and he could re-break a leg or shatter an ankle. A whistling sound gained my attention and was quickly followed by an explosion directly behind us. I ducked behind a large pine to avoid the debris, grabbing Blaze and jerking him into me. I realized that they had heat seekers. Well, I could fix that.

I cooled the air around us to buy us time. "What do you know about choppers," I asked my companion.

"They have blades. The big one for flight, the little one gives it direction. Why?" At my evil grin, he began to follow my train of thought. "Want me to melt the little one? That'll take away their control."

"Go for it. Don't let me do all the work." Blaze focused on the helicopter and I kept watch on the surrounding forest for any other minions. When I go the thumbs up from Blaze, and heard roars from the Erasers above us, we bolted in the opposite direction. The forest ended in another five hundred yards when we would hit the road. I grabbed Blaze's hand and brought my attention to my wing. After a few seconds' time, the pain had ebbed thanks to a little convincing done by me to the blood and liquids running through my wing and surrounding shoulder. The feeling of triumph and determination I felt reverberating through me turned sour as we ran straight into a trap. We were surrounded. M-Geeks and Erasers surrounded us and a van was parked and open at the curbside. This wasn't just a few, either. This was at least fifty of each type of minion, all carrying a firearm. At the circle's head was a man I had never met before, only seen in the Facility looking at our files and ordering lab lackeys around.

"You two," he said cruelly, "Are coming with me. I have a buyer who wants two weapons like you. And you just proved that you're worth at least half a billion each instead of the 2.5 mill we were charging before. . . This is good. This is very good."


End file.
